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Sunday March 10, 2013

Police arrest conmen over Perak land deal


IPOH: Police have nabbed four men who allegedly posed as government officials and civil servants to con a man of RM166,000 in a purported land deal.

The four, aged between 38 and 54, were held at separate locations on Friday.

Tracing events that led to their arrests, a police spokesman said that in December one of the suspects had gone to a coffee shop in Manjoi and randomly targeted the victim.

”The suspect informed the victim of a land offer in Taiping, claiming that the Perak Government was selling it cheap ahead of the elections.

”The victim expressed his interest and was later brought to meet a man who identified himself as a personal assistant to state land and mines director Datuk Syed Mokhtar Syed Iddris,” the police spokesman said at the Lower Courts here yesterday.

The victim later received a call from a man claiming to be Syed Mokhtar.

“As agreed between them, the victim paid a deposit for the land and then started to make other payments in instalments.

“The victim only recently realised that something was amiss when no word came from anyone on when he would be getting his land grant.

“The victim then checked with the land office and found out that the piece of land purported to be on sale was non-existent,” the spokesman said.

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