Policewoman held for gun smuggling

KUALA LUMPUR: A young policewoman and a wanted man were among four people arrested by police near the Thai-Malaysia border in Kedah for allegedly smuggling a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition from Thailand on Sunday.
The 26-year-old policewoman who is attached to a district police headquarters here was travelling with the 31-year-old man in a Perodua Myvi on the south-bound North-South Expressway when a police team from Bukit Aman and the Kedah CID, acting on a public tip-off, intercepted them at 10.40pm at Km9.7 of the expressway.
Another car, a BMW that was trailing them and driven by a 41-year-old man was also flagged down by police. A 35-year-old woman from Petaling Jaya, believed to be his girlfriend, was with him in the car.
Sources said the police team inspected the Myvi and found a Czech-made Luger pistol and 30 rounds of ammunition in a bag at the rear seat of the car.
All four suspects were arrested.
It is believed that the suspects had allegedly smuggled the firearm and ammunition from Thailand via the Changlun-Kubang Pasu border.
Sources said checks showed that the rank-and-file policewoman had joined the force just two years ago.
The driver of the Myvi whom she was with is a debt collector for a loan shark and has a previous criminal record for a drug-related case. Both suspects are from Taiping.
The oldest suspect who drove the BMW is a suspected thug from Klang who had five previous criminal cases for gang robbery, theft and criminal intimidation and is also wanted for an assault case in Kapar.
Both male suspects tested positive for drug abuse.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, in a Twitter message today, commended the joint-police team in succeeding in the operation.
Police have long been on the watch of suspicious travellers crossing the Thai border after learning of gun-running activities being prevalent among criminals and members of the underworld.