Cops arrest four fake ‘Datuk Seri’ for fraud
> Suspects nabbed after security guard lodges police report for assault
IPOH: Police have arrested four people impersonating “Datuk Seri”, including two women using the name of a senior aide to the prime minister, recommending Datuk and Datuk Seri awards to be bestowed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and offering non-existent projects. One of the women is wife to one of the suspects.
“They even went to the extent of taking their unsuspecting victims on a helicopter ride to show the projects in Langkawi this year,” Perak police chief Datuk Hasnan Hassan said at a press conference yesterday.
“The group, led by a 31-yearold mastermind, committed the offences in Langkawi, Selangor, Kedah and Kuala Lumpur.
“Police made their breakthrough when a security guard lodged a report after he was hit with a pistol and threatened by a man who claimed to be a ‘strongman’ of the prime minister at Mont Blue Residence at 11.10am on March 11.
“The victim sustained injuries on his forehead and we conducted an investigation, which led us to a bungalow in Jalan Enclave on March 30.
“The incident occurred following an argument and we are still investigating,” he added.
The raiding party from the CID and Commercial branch picked up two men and two women aged between 24 and 65.
The suspects from Perak, Johor and Selangor, who have records for cheating and firearms cases, have been remanded until April 8 to facilitate investigations. Three of them tested positive for drugs.
The victims lost RM1.6 million in the sham.
“Police seized several papers and documents bearing the name of the prime minster and a fake rubber stamp of the prime minister’s chief principal secretary Datuk Iskandar Mohd Kaus,” Hasnan said.
“We also recovered 49 fake rubber stamps of the Yang diPertuan Agong, the office of the prime minister, the government of Malaysia, state governments, companies together with government and companies documents, and VVIP stickers.
“A government ceremonial dress with medals for an investiture ceremony, a letter that purportedly awarded the honours and medals from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to the suspect, several vehicle crests of the awards, crests of Member of the 14th Parliament, seven vehicle registration documents and a car were also seized.
“Other items found in the bungalow were six photo frames of the Datuk Seri in ceremonial attire, a pistol, a revolver, six bullets, six handphones, 11 cheque books, a laptop, a printer and 180g of ganja.
“Investigations revealed the group, which had been active since 2017, was responsible for 11 criminal and cheating cases in Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
“Their modus operandi is to approach victims and use names of VIPs to offer non existent projects and also to get honours and medals from the King.
“We are continuing with the investigation under the Firearms Act and also probing whether there are other cases linked to the group,” he said.
Police are appealing to the public who have been conned by the group to come forward to assist in the investigation.