Two men remanded over false report that led to gridlock in George Town

GEORGE TOWN: Two men were remanded for a week to assist in investigations into a false report lodged that had the city in a gridlock on Monday (Dec 9).

They claimed that they were robbed of more than RM100,000.

The two men were remanded by assistant registrar Muhammad Azam Md Eusoff, acting as Magistrate, for seven days from Tuesday (Dec 10).

Muhammad Azam granted the seven-day remand order, ending December 16 for the suspects, an auditor and a chief cashier, both in their 40s, to assist in investigations.

They are being investigated for perjury under Section 182 of the Penal Code.

Police arrested the two men, who claimed they were robbed after hiding a restaurant's takings of RM122,555 in a car.

Road users in the city were caught in gridlock after the false robbery report had police scrambling and setting up roadblocks to apprehend the robbers.

The two restaurant workers later confessed to lodging the false report.

It was reported that George Town OCPD Asst Comm Soffian Santong said that in the noon incident on Monday, the workers claimed that two men in balaclavas arrived in a motorcycle near the restaurant, demanding to see their MyKad.

The men claimed one of the robbers had brandished a knife, demanding that they hand over a bag containing the cash.

They told police the money was three days of collection from Dec 6 to 8, and they were travelling on a motorcycle when the so-called robbery occurred.