GEORGE TOWN: Penang police say they have crippled an armed robbery gang with the arrest of nine suspects linked to a RM3.6mil gold robbery.
The arrests were made in several raids across the state under Ops Jingga D Garden.
State police chief Comm Datuk Azizee Ismail (pic) said the operations, conducted from March 26 until Thursday (April 2), involved officers and personnel from the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police contingent, together with the Criminal Investigation Division of the North Seberang Prai district police headquarters.
He said raids were carried out at several locations in the South-West and North-East districts, leading to the arrest of seven local men and two Indonesian women, all aged between 23 and 43.
"During the operations, we also seized gold jewellery weighing about 4.3kg, a machete, four tyres with sports rims, and two vehicles believed to have been used in the robberies.
"Preliminary investigations found that the group targeted salespersons transporting jewellery for delivery or transactions at gold shops around Penang,” he said in a statement on Friday (April 3).
Comm Azizee said that with the arrests, police believe they have solved a gang robbery case reported at 9.20am on March 26 in North Seberang Prai.
Jewellery weighing over 6kg valued at RM3.6mil was taken in the robbery, he added.
He said checks found that three of the suspects have serious offences on their records, with one having 17 criminal offences and one drug case.
"Three of the suspects tested positive for methamphetamine,” he said, adding that operations are ongoing to track down any remaining gang members.
The suspects have been remanded to assist in investigations, and the case is being investigated under Sections 395, 397 and 109 of the Penal Code. – Bernama
