KUALA LUMPUR: A senior police officer has received a bullet and a death threat with the words “Kami akan mencabar polis (We dare the police)” and “Kami tidak takut polis (We are not afraid of the police)” over the force’s all-out war against loan sharks.
It is learnt that several other senior officers had also received death threats via post following recent directives to nab loan sharks.
Sources said the officer, who had received a bullet and a newspaper article that had a photograph of him declaring war on loan sharks, had sent the evidence to the forensics department for fingerprint tests.
They said this was the first time several senior officers had received death threats simultaneously.
CID director Comm Datuk Musa Hassan confirmed that a police report had been lodged with regard to the death threats.
It is learnt that the stamp mark on the envelope indicated that the letter was posted from Johor, although it could not be immediately be ascertained if the person or persons responsible were from Johor.
Police had last week busted a loan shark syndicate that was allegedly headed by several businessmen Datuks from Johor following the arrest of 16 of the syndicate’s “field workers” in Petaling Jaya.
Sources said the syndicate operated like a financial institution, with a multi-tiered system controlled by area managers and supervisors to oversee workers who disbursed loans and collected payments.
Police here have so far identified 10 areas in the Klang Valley where the syndicate had been operating.
The men, who were also from Johor, were caught with cheques for a total of RM7.4mil, credit cards, RM135,000 in cash, 10 car registration cards, cellular phones and jewellery – all taken from their victims.
They would force their debtors to pay up by harassing them at their workplace or even going to their houses armed with parang late at night. They even damaged cars to emphasise their threats.
The syndicate, which had been active for a year, attracted its customers by distributing leaflets and letters to houses advertising its “services”.
The leaflets stated that the syndicate was called Siong Xin (meaning “ambitious” in Mandarin).
