Police take shine out of gold bar robbers, eight detained

KEPALA BATAS: The police have detained five men and three women to facilitate investigations into a heist involving 11 gold bars and jewellery worth a total of RM1.9 million from a gold processing factory in Jalan Siram here last Monday.

Six of the suspects were nabbed on Sept 29 in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur and the rest at two areas in Johor, the following day. The women are wives of the suspects. All eight suspects are aged between 30 and 40.

Penang police acting chief, Datuk Roslee Chik said a police team recovered two gold bars worth about RM360,000 from one of the suspects.

He said the man’s fingerprints were found on a getaway car which the group of robbers had used in the heist.

“Initial investigations revealed that some of the gold bars and jewellery had been sold.

The police urge those who have bought the gold bars and jewellery to surrender them to assist in police investigations,” he told reporters after a ceremony to hand over narcotics case exhibits at the Penang Police Contingent Headquarters here yesterday.

In the incident at 9.45am on Sept 25, three men armed with an axe and hamm er alighted from a red Perodua Bezza car near the factory and attacked two men carrying a bag containing the gold bars and jewellery.

In the meantime, Roslee said the police were in the midst of tracking down several other accomplices who were members of the robbery gang to assist in the investigations.

“We believe they are still in the country with the (rest of the) loot”, he said, adding that the police had several new leads into the case and did not rule out the possibility of ‘inside help’ from the factory.

The five male suspects have numerous criminal records related to robbery and theft, and together with the women have been remanded until Oct 5. — Bernama