Fourth remand extension for drive-by shooting suspects

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KOTA KINABALU: The Magistrate’s Court here yesterday extended a remand order made against three suspects involved in the recent drive-by shooting incident around the city.

Court registrar Pitrus Lee, presiding as magistrate, made the decision in chambers yesterday after allowing an application by the police, acting as prosecution, for the men to be further remanded in custody.

This was the fourth application to extend the remand in police custody against the suspects, for the purpose of facilitating police investigation.

The trio, aged between 25 and 36, are being investigated under Section 32 (2) of the Firearms Act 1960 which provides up to 10 years’ jail and also liable to a fine, on conviction.

It was reported that the men were arrested on Jan 29, this year around the state capital by a special squad under the ‘Ops Cermin’ operation to investigate a series of incidents where 46 premises were shot at by air guns loaded with marbles.

The group of individuals allegedly moved around in three vehicles and targeted premises located within the city centre, Inanam, Luyang and Penampang, between 11.45pm on Jan 10 until 6am on Jan 11.

Among the premises affected were offices, banks, hotels, beauty salons, restaurants, a petrol station and car showrooms with estimated losses of up to thousands of ringgit.

The incident was said to have caused some degree of panic among the public which escalated through the use of social media tools such as Facebook and WhatsApp.