One, if not both, of the suspects believed to be linked to ‘Lightning Gang’ responsible for the recent spate of swift jewellery heists.
Two suspected robbers were shot dead by police in separate incidents in Cheras and Bandar Sunway yesterday.
At least one of the men is believed to have been linked to a series of recent jewellery store heists in Negri Sembilan and the Klang Valley.
The Federal Special Task Force on Organised Crime (STAFFOC) and City police contingent headquarters’ Serious Crimes Division (D9) received a tip-off on a robbery suspect in Taman Connaught, Cheras, at about 10.30pm yesterday,
Police ordered the 22-year-old suspect, who was in a Perodua Myvi, to stop his vehicle for inspection. Instead, the man fired off a shot towards the police.
Police returned fire, killing the suspect.
It is learnt that the suspect, who was from Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, has a record for illegal firearms possession and robbery.
Later, at 2.45am, police shot dead a 33-year-old man at Jalan PJS 9, Bandar Sunway.
Police said the man, also in a Perodua Myvi, was behaving in a suspicious manner, prompting police to instruct him to pull over.
Instead, the man tried to flee and fired a shot in the direction of the police.
He died in a subsequent exchange of gunfire with the police.
The man, from Bandar Puchong Jaya, had a record for multiple criminal offences.
City police are expected to issue a statement on the cases soon.
Yesterday, the Malay Mail reported that police believed the three jewellery heists within four days were pulled off by the same ‘Lightning Gang’ after a source revealed that the serial number of the shotgun found in the Seremban robbery matched the one stolen from the Cheras heist.
The source added that the Bangi robbery was the job of the same gang with a similar modus operandi used.
The source explained that in all three cases, the suspects committed the robbery within three minutes and had their accomplices waiting outside of the robbery premises.
“For them to go in and out within three minutes in all three cases shows they would have studied these areas much earlier, before striking,” he was quoted saying.
The suspects also wore full-face helmets and fired warning shots in all incidents.
At about 8pm on Thursday night in Seremban, the Wah Chan goldsmith shop at Palm Mall shopping centre in Kemaman Square was robbed by a group of eight men who fled with six trays worth of jewellery after smashing the glass display panels with hammers.
A shotgun was found near the premises, believed to have been discarded by one of the fleeing robbers.
Hours earlier, a trio of robbers carted away RM370,000 worth of jewellery from a goldsmith in CS Supermarket, Persiaran Bangi Avenue, Kajang.
Eyewitnesses claimed three suspects used a hammer to break the display cases before escaping on two motorcycles at 11.22am.
The suspects escaped with three trays of jewellery hallmarked with the 916 stamp which indicated the ornaments contained 91.6 percent of pure gold.
On New Year’s Eve, a robbery occurred at the Poh Kong goldsmith shop at Leisure Mall in Taman Segar, Cheras, which involved a group of 10 men armed with gun and hammers, who fled with jewellery worth RM1.5 million.
During this incident, the robbers also took the security guard’s shotgun.
Two months earlier, two armed men robbed the Wah Chan store in Giant Kota Damansara. In the incident, which happened at 10.55am on Nov 1, the robbers escaped with RM1.1 million worth of gold items.
Earlier reports:
Jan 5, Two Jewellery Heists in One Day
Jan 2, RM1.5M Jewellery Heist from Cheras Shop in 3 Minutes