JOHOR BARU: Police have arrested eight suspects, including a foreign woman, in connection with the June 14 deaths of two men during a shootout at Jalan Abad here.
Johor police chief Comm M. Kumar told a press conference here on Monday (June 24) that three pistols were also seized along with four air guns, 141 rounds of ammunition, and 1.8kg of drugs worth RM96,082.
He added that police also confiscated a pair of handcuffs and a fake police authority card.
“The eight individuals consist of four men and four women, one of them a foreigner. They are aged between 20 and 40 (and were) arrested for various offences.
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“They were arrested right after the shootout on June 14 and are believed to be part of a local gang involved in arms and drug trafficking.
“The arrest was made at three separate raids located at a homestay in Wadihana, an apartment in Kempas Utama and a roadside in Taman Abad,” he said.
The drugs consist of syabu, Erimin 5 pills, ganja, ecstasy powder and pills, heroin and yaba pills, he added.
Comm Kumar added that investigations also found that one of the seized guns was linked to the death of a 38-year-old man in Taman Pelangi on March 20 last year.
“The fake police authority card bears the name of one suspect who was killed during the shootout at Jalan Abad,” he said.
In total, police confiscated six pistols and 167 rounds of ammunition in their investigation of the gang's trafficking activities, he added.
Comm Kumar said three of the seven local suspects arrested had various criminal and drug offences on their records, while three others had drug-related priors.
“All suspects have been remanded under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code from June 14 until Tuesday (June 25),” he said.
At 4.30pm on June 14, two men aged 40 and 42 were killed in a shootout with police.
The incident occurred after a team from the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department and the Johor police special investigation unit (D9) followed a suspicious white car.
“When the suspects noticed they were being followed, they tried to escape and fired several shots at the police.
“The police returned fire,” he said, adding that the team then checked the vehicle and found the two suspects dead.
The 42-year-old suspect had 38 criminal and drug-related offences on his record, while the 40-year-old suspect had five prior offences.
Three pistols, 26 rounds of ammunition and suspected dangerous drugs were confiscated following the shootout.
The case is being investigated under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder, Sections 7 and 8 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 for trafficking firearms and unlawful possession of firearms.
It is also being investigated under Section 36 of the Arms Act 1960 for possession, sale, buying or distributing imitation weapons, Section 6(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 for possession of dangerous weapons, and Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug trafficking.
