SEREMBAN: Police have arrested 19 members of Gang Kabali for allegedly being involved in at least 65 armed robberies in the Klang Valley.
Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Huzir Mohamed said the suspects aged between 18 and 50 were arrested under Ops Kelawar last November and December for their alleged involvement in organised crime.
“We believe they were responsible for 50 armed robberies in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, and 15 in Negri Sembilan involving almost RM1mil.
“Their targets were money changers and normal households,” he told reporters at the state police contingent headquarters here on Wednesday (Jan 8).
Comm Huzir said police were looking for eight more members of the group to assist in investigations.
He said all 27 suspects had previous criminal records for armed robberies and drug abuse.
“Six had also been charged for allegedly being involved in murders, but they were freed for lack of evidence,” he said.
Comm Huzir said police got their break following the arrests of three suspects who had allegedly robbed a money changer in Port Dickson last October.
The suspects would be charged tomorrow under section 130v of the Penal Code for being members of a group involved in organised crime.
“We will also charge them under the Anti Money Laundering Act, as we believe they still have some of their ill-gotten gains,” he said.
Comm Huzir said police believe the suspects, who were members of different criminal groups, formed Gang Kabali while serving sentences for other crimes in prison.
“Their 32-year-old leader, whom we have arrested, was known as Kabali and is from Rantau. He was responsible for planning robberies in Seremban and Port Dickson.
“We are also looking for the second leader, known as Vicky or R. Kunasekaran, also 32. He masterminded the heists in Selangor and KL,” he said.
Comm Huzir said police were also looking for five other suspects to assist in its probe. They are K. Theyvendran, 27, A. Eswaran, 26, S. Navin Kumar and Nasaruddin Abdullah, both 24, and R.Jeevanraj 23.
He said the suspects would strike between 8.30pm and 5am and never hesitated to slash victims who retaliated.
“From some of the CCTV recordings we got, the gang members were merciless and would use their parangs if their victims resisted,” he added. -The Star