Malaysian security firm supervisors held in heist

Oct. 3, 2008
Company's guards detained in theft of money intended to fill ATMs

KAJANG: In what is increasingly looking to be an inside job, police rounded up four supervisors of a security company in connection with the RM1.8 million security van heist on Monday.

Earlier, police detained the five security guards tasked with handling RM4.5 million, which was to replenish automated teller machines in the Klang Valley.

The nine suspects were produced at the Kajang magistrate's court yesterday, where police obtained a one-week remand order to detain them for further investigations.

It is learnt that the supervisors were picked up from various locations in Selangor in simultaneous raids late Monday night.

Kajang police chief Assistant Commissioner Shakaruddin Che Mood confirmed the arrest of the four supervisors but said they were still looking for the two suspects who stole the security van before unloading six sacks of cash worth RM1.8 million from the vehicle.

However, due to the size of the suspects' stolen Perodua Kelisa, they were forced to leave behind the remaining nine sacks of cash totalling RM2.7 million.

The security van, with the cash, was later found abandoned near the Bukit Duyong rest area.

"We hope to identify the suspects soon," said Shakaruddin.

In Monday's incident, two men, armed with a pistol approached two security personnel guarding the security van at the Tesco hypermarket in Saujana Impian.

Three security guards had earlier gone inside the hypermarket to top up the automated teller machine on the first floor, leaving their unarmed colleagues to watch the van.

One of the men chased the guards away while his accomplice drove off with the van. The other suspect later followed in the Kelisa and both vehicles stopped about two kilometres from the hypermarket.