Police believe an armed robbery gang linked to a series of crimes across Selangor and Melaka has been severely crippled following a deadly shootout that left two of its members dead in Bandar Seri Putera on Monday night.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director M. Kumar said the gang was believed to consist of around 10 members and had been actively carrying out armed robberies in several hotspot areas.
According to him, the syndicate’s modus operandi involved targeting houses located near major roads before escaping quickly via highways.
“They also preferred locations with minimal CCTV coverage to avoid detection by authorities,” he said during a press conference at the Kajang district police headquarters.
Among the areas allegedly targeted by the gang were Sungai Buloh, Kajang, Bangi, Banting and several other parts of Selangor, as well as locations in Melaka.
Earlier reports stated that two men believed to be gang members were shot dead after allegedly opening fire at police during an incident along Jalan Persiaran Seri Putera at around 9.10pm.
Kumar said the shootout happened when a team from Bukit Aman’s D9 division was conducting anti-robbery patrols around Kajang and Bangi before spotting a suspicious Proton Wira.
Police reportedly tailed the vehicle for about 500 metres before ordering the suspects to stop.
However, the suspects allegedly refused and sped away before officers successfully intercepted the car by the roadside.
“As soon as the vehicle was intercepted, the suspects aggressively opened fire from inside the car towards the police team, forcing officers to return fire,” he said.
Further inspections uncovered a revolver, six rounds of ammunition, three spent bullet casings, four machetes and various housebreaking tools inside the vehicle.
Police identified both suspects as local men aged 25 and 46, with a combined total of around 30 previous criminal records involving housebreaking, robbery and vehicle theft cases.
Authorities believe several other gang members are still at large and investigations are ongoing to track them down.
