PRESS BRIEFED ON SHOOTING: Khalid (second right) speaking during a press conference on the shoot-out with three criminals at Gerik police headquarters. Also present are (from right) Perak police chief, Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, CID director, Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah and Pahang police chief Datuk Sharifuddin Abd Ghani. — Bernama photo
GERIK: Three criminals believed to be involved in murder, armed robbery and carjacking cases were shot dead in a shootout with police at Jalan Intan here early yesterday.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said prior to the incident, the trio, who hailed from Kelantan and aged between 25 and 24, were stopped by police in a crime prevention operation dubbed Ops Cantas, at about 1.40 am.
“They were travelling in a Proton Wira car and when asked to stop, they stopped, but only for while before the driver put the car in reverse and his accomplices started shooting at the police.
“In self-defence, police fired several shots which killed the three men,” he told reporters at Gerik police headquarters here yesterday.
Following a search in the car, police found a .38 pistol under the front passenger’s right thigh and a .22 pistol in the driver’s leg area, as well as house-breaking and carjacking tools.
Khalid said the men were believed to be involved in the murder of a rice seller in Paka, Terengganu and attempted murder of a single mother in Kuantan, Pahang recently.
“They were also believed to be involved in three armed robbery and luxury car-theft cases. Two of them had six previous criminal records each, while the other one had two,” he said.
Khalid did not dismiss the possibility that the suspects had committed the offences across the country and were strategising another crime in Gerik before they were killed.
He said police believed they have solved six criminal cases with the death of the trio, but further investigation would still be carried out to identify and track down their possible accomplices. — Bernama