Police fire five shots in 70-km car chase

BALING: Police were forced to open fire at a car carrying six individuals during a 70-kilometre car chase which started at a roadblock in Gerik and ended in Baling yesterday.

Baling police chief Supt Shamsudin Mamat said a Patrol Car Unit (MPV) from the Gerik district police headquarters (IPD), Perak, received information from officers on duty at a roadblock in Sungai Lebey, Gerik at 4 am, informing them of a suspicious Proton Perdana car speeding through the police checkpoint.

He said the Gerik MPV had conducted an Op Kesan in the surrounding area and tracked down the suspects’ vehicle at a petrol station in Kuala Rui, Gerik.

“When police attempted to conduct an inspection, the suspects accelerated the vehicle, prompting the police to pursue the car until it entered the Baling border, Kedah. The Gerik MPV then requested assistance from the Baling MPV.

“The suspects’ vehicle was driven in a manner which endangered the lives of road users from the opposite direction, and to prevent the suspect vehicle from colliding with other vehicles, the Gerik MPV patrol members issued three warnings through the ‘spectra’ communication device,” he said in a statement here.

Shamsudin said the suspects refused to stop their car, forcing the patrol car members to fire five warning shots, two of which hit the vehicle’s bonnet.

He said the vehicle, however, continued to speed before skidding on the Kuala Pegang Bridge, and two suspects believed to be the driver and front passenger fled under the bridge and escaped.