Gangsters terrorising gas supplier

Slowing exports and tepid inflation have raised expectations that policy makers will need to consider adding to May

NIBONG TEBAL: A gas supplier is going through harrowing times after gang members damaged his property when he refused to pay them protection money.

Businessman Ng Song Long, 41, said he suffered losses of about RM20,000 when the windscreens and windows of nine of his trucks were shattered yesterday.

“The CCTV showed about 10 men breaking into the factory in Simpang Ampat,” he said.

Ng claimed that three months after he started his business in February 2016, a gang member had warned him that the South Seberang Prai district was their “territory”.

“They asked me to pay RM1.50 for every barrel of gas I sell in the district but I refused.”

“The gang then approached a rival company nearby and the company agreed to pay them,” he claimed.

Since then, the gang offered protection to his rival but started to harass him and his customers, Ng said.

“In August 2016, my wife and I, and our friends were beaten up by unidentified people at Icon City in Bukit Mertajam.

“Later, my customers told me that the gang had warned them not to take my supply,” he said.

When Ng looked for new customers further south in Kuala Kurau, Perak, he said the gang claimed the place was under its “coverage”.

Ng said he lodged several reports over the incidents including one in August when his sub-dealer’s house in Taman Tangling was splashed with paint.

“They splashed paint on his house but later offered him RM500 in return for not lodging a police report,” claimed Ng.

South Seberang Prai police chief Supt Shafee Abd Samad said police were investigating the case under Section 148 of the Penal Code for rioting with weapons.

“We could not identify the perpetrators from the CCTV footage as it was blur,” said Supt Shafee.

He said that Ng received a call on Dec 24 from an unidentified man, threatening him not to have his lorries go to Kuala Kurau or they would break his arms and legs.

“We think that the incidents could have arisen due to the competition in the area,” said Supt Shafee.