IPOH, 3 April 2018:
A man masqerading as a ‘Datuk Seri’ and three other individuals were detained in a raid on a luxury bungalow at Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah here on Friday – on suspicion of being involved in an award sale scam as well as offering non-existent projects involving a total of RM1.6 million.
Perak police chief Datuk Hasnan Hassan said the suspects, aged between 24 and 65 years, were detained after police received a report lodged by a security guard – who was allegedly threatened and pistol-whipped by a suspect in a condominium incident in Tambun here on March 11.
“On March 11, police received a report from a security guard at Mont Blue Residence, Tambun who claimed he was threatened and hit on his left forehead with a pistol by a suspect who claimed to be the prime minister’s ‘strongman’.
“The man was said to be incensed after the security guard refused to allow him to enter the condominium area because he did not have an entry pass.”
He said the modus operandi of the ‘Datuk Seri’ – purportedly one of the masterminds in the scam – was to pass himself off as a Datuk Seri and used the names of dignitaries to offer projects that did not exist in Langkawi, Kedah – and had allegedly obtain the Seri Mahkota Wilayah Medal award from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The 31-year-old ‘Datuk Seri’ was believed to be involved in 11 such cases of fraud in Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan, he said.
Following the police report received, he said the Special Investigation (D9) team and Ipoh District Police’s Commercial CID investigated the case and detected the suspects.
“Police managed to locate the suspects in a luxury bungalow at Enclave Residence, here, and conducted a raid at 11.45am on Friday.
“The police succeeded in nabbing all the suspects, the main mastermind along with his wife and two other male suspects.”
Police also seized two semi-automatic and revolver pistols with a bullet magazine and live ammunition as well as documents and items believed to be used for cheating.
Hasnan said among the goods seized were 49 fake stamps involving those of the Yang Dipertuan Agong, the Malaysian government, the state government and a company.
In addition, various fake documents and award certificates, ceremonial garments, songkok and sashes and an Audi Q7 car were also seized, he said.
“A check found that the main suspect had previous records involving firearms and frauds.
“All are remanded until April 8 to assist in investigations under Section 8 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 and Section 36 of the Firearms Act 1960 and further investigations are still being conducted to detect other cases involving the group and to identify their victims.”
The police believe there are many more suspects involved in this scam and urged the public who had relevant information or were cheated by the suspects to come forward to assist in the investigation, he said.
– Bernama