SHAH ALAM: Police nabbed 38 people involved with a loan shark syndicate behind illegal money-lending activities in the Klang Valley over the past year.
Charging interest rates of between 10% and 15% per month, the syndicate gave loans up to RM1 million to borrowers desperate for quick funds.
Selangor police chief Commissioner Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said today that the syndicates were also involved in scamming victims by offering non-existent loans.
He said between June 3 and June 8, police launched an operation under “Ops Vulture” to bust the syndicate at various locations, namely Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Serdang, Klang, Sungai Buloh and Hulu Selangor.
Arjunaidi said in 10 raids that were conducted police arrested 35 men and three women aged between 21 and 61.
He said four of the suspects are foreigners.
Arjunaidi said police seized computers, vehicles, luxury watches, cash and ATM cards believed to belong to victims in the raids.
He said checks also showed that 11 of the male suspects have past records for criminal intimidation, loansharking and drug-related crimes among other offences.
“They advertised offers of quick cash loans by putting up posters in public places. The syndicate also scammed people into paying processing fees for non-existent loans which were offered in social media platforms. The victims were lured to believe they would receive the loans but after paying up the processing fees, they end up getting nothing.” he said.
Arjunaidi said six of the suspects have been either charged or will soon be charged for the offences while the probe papers on the rest will be referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action in the coming days.
