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Three suspects involved in hijacking of S'porean car arrested
By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 07 July 2012 1529 hrs
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JOHOR BAHRU: Johor police have recovered the car that was hijacked and stolen from a Singaporean at gun point on Sunday.
Three men, aged between 33 and 45 years old, have also been arrested. Two more suspects are still at large.
At a news conference held at the Johor police headquarters on Saturday, Johor police chief Mohd Mokthtar said the suspects were caught during a morning raid on Wednesday at three different locations at the Ulu Tiram area.
Police also recovered other belongings of the Singaporean, including a laptop, mobile phones and credit cards. They also confiscated two hand guns and a pump gun from the suspects.
The hijacking happened along Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, a popular stop for Singaporeans before heading to the Customs and Immigration checkpoints.
Early in the morning on July 1, 37-year-old Rita Zahara's car was driven away by two men while she was buying some fruits. In the car were her two children, younger sister and maid.
The passengers were later released unharmed.
Johor Police had set up a task force to hunt the suspects.
Deputy Commissioner Mohd Mokhtar told the media that he had instructed his officers to track down the suspects "at all costs".
He said: "Let me make it very clear, the criminals... they do not target any particular visitor nor nationality. Criminals are criminals. They strike when there is an opportunity to do so. Please, there is no basis at all to allege that they are targeting Singaporeans. This is totally unfounded and incorrect."
Police said the suspects had 14 prior convictions for robbery, theft of vehicles and drug related offences.
The three suspects have not been charged yet and are now in remand until July 10.
"I'm very grateful that the perpetrators have been caught and I'm also very appreciative of the hard work that the Malaysian police have done. They did it very quickly in just three days and I'm very appreciative and grateful," said Ms Rita.
Johor police said 206 criminal cases involving Singaporean victims were reported this year.
Deputy Commissioner Mohd Mokhtar also urged Singaporeans to take precautions and not give criminals the opportunity to strike.
-CNA/ac/cc
