KUALA LUMPUR: Four Vietnamese men, believed to have been responsible for 44 theft cases in the Klang Valley since 2018, were killed following a shootout with police at a residency in Jalan Imbi.
The group modus operandi was to drill steel safes in homes and offices before stealing their contents, including cash.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said the suspects were shot by a team from Bukit Aman and Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in an operation codenamed "Ops Tebuk".
"The team raided a residency in Jalan Imbi at about 11.30pm on Tuesday (Nov 12).
"However, we tried to arrest the suspects, the suspects in their 40s fired shots at the police forcing them to return fire in self-defence," he told reporters at the scene.
Comm Rusdi said the suspects were armed with two machetes and two pistols.
"Investigations also showed the suspects were responsible for 44 cases in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, involving losses of RM4.3mil.
"Their last theft was two days ago in Sri Hartamas," he said.
Comm Rusdi said the burglary gang used high-end residency as a hideout and to plan their heists.
"All of them had valid passports.
"We will investigate further to discover how long they have been in the country," he said.
Comm Rusdi said the suspects had been quick and slick in committing the thefts at night.
"Even if their faces were captured on CCTVs, it was hard to identity them as they were foreigners.
"We are investigating further to track down the remnants of the gang," he said.
The suspects' bodies have been sent to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for post-mortem, he said.
Among others, also present were Bukit Aman deputy CID director Deputy Comm Datuk Fadil Marcus and Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Sulizmie Affendy Razali.
