Suspected robbers shot dead in Taiping
A two-year reign of terror by an armed robbery gang which targeted goldsmith shops in several states came to an end when police shot dead two suspects in Taiping at about 10pm yesterday.
Acting on a public tip-off, a police patrol car tailed the two suspects who were driving en route to Kamunting and ordered them to stop near the Taiping Tesco supermarket.
State CID chief D’Zuraidi Ibrahim told reporters today one of the suspects instead opened fire at police personnel while at the same time reversing their car into the patrol car.
Police returned fire and killed the two suspects on the spot. They recovered a .22 pistol, six live bullets, a samurai sword, two parang and three mobile phones from the suspect’s car.
The remains of the two suspects were sent to the Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh for a post-mortem.
18 cases solved
Police have identified one of the two suspects as R Satchihnathan, 20, from Johor whom they claim has a police record and was released last year from the Simpang Renggam Detention Centre in Johor.
It is believed that police have also identified the other suspect but have referred his case to the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur for further action.
D’Zuraidi said the gang started activities in 2008 and their modus operandi was to wear ski- masks and enter goldsmith shops waving their swords and parang while brandishing a pistol.
He said police believe they have now solved about 18 robbery cases in Perak (nine cases), Johor (three), Penang (two) and one case each in Selangor, Kedah, Perlis and Kuala Lumpur.
Police hoped to arrest the remaining members of gang soon, he added.
‘Taking shortcuts’
In an immediate reaction Human Rights Party pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar called upon the home minister to immediately investigate and establish the truth of the police shooting.
“We hereby call for a royal commission of inquiry to determine and establish if this was indeed an unofficial police shoot to kill operation further to an unofficial shoot to kill order.
“We expect the usual police announcement later today to be the routine eight steps as follows:
“Step 1. Two Indian suspects were behaving suspiciously. Step 2. Police followed them. Step 3. They saw the police and sped off. Step 4. The police gave chase. Step 5. The suspects shot at the police. Step 6. Police in self-defence shot back and both the suspects were instantly killed in the encounter. Step 7. The suspects were allegedly involved in a series of serious crimes and/or have previous convictions. Step 8. The dead police murder victims are unable to defend themselves and the public perception of this the cold-blooded police murder is neutralised.”Uthayakumar (pix) said that having been shot dead, the two youths were unable to defend themselves and clear their names.
“The police cannot take shortcuts and unilaterally dispense summary justice. They have to seriously investigate and if there is enough evidence, prosecute the suspects in an open court of law.
“If – and only if – the courts find the accused guilty and sentences them to death, can a man’s life be taken in Malaysia. This is the law in this country and not as per the aforesaid police actions,” he said.
