Smash-and-grab gang members shot dead after car chase

Shooting case in Duke highway.

PETALING JAYA: Three smash-and-grab gang members were gunned down during a shootout near the Sentul toll plaza on the Duke Highway.

The three had earlier been in a 60km high-speed chase with police in South Klang.

The drama began when a team from the Selangor police serious crime division (D9) – patrolling under the Ops Banker – spotted the men and their accomplices in South Klang at about 11.30am yesterday.

Three black Proton Wira were seen sandwiching another car while a man on a motorcycle broke a window and snatched the victim’s money amounting to RM2,000.

A chase ensued with the gang being chased through several urban areas before two of the cars were cornered near the toll plaza.

Selangor deputy police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar said the gang members fired several shots at the police.

“We had no choice but to fire back, hitting three suspects. They died at the scene,” he said, adding that there were no casualties on the police side.

DCP Abdul Rahim said the gang’s victim – a woman in her 30s – was not hurt during the robbery.

He said the dead men were believed to be Indonesians.

He said police were looking for other members of the gang as well as the driver of the third car and the motorcyclist.

A security guard, identified only as Sundram, 59, said he saw the gang members fire first before the police returned fire.

“Two of the robbers were still firing away when one of them was gunned down,” he said.

A worker at the toll plaza, who only wished to be known as Jai, said he was shocked that a shootout had taken place near his workplace as he had thought the blasts were tyres exploding.

“The police then instructed us to stay in the toll booth and duck for fear of stray bullets,” he said.