6œ theSun | THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 2008

news without borders

Woman robber,
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KAJANG: A 22-year-old female robber

who made the news after she was ar-
rested in Ampang in May this year was
gunned down along with an accomplice

by a crack police team in Bandar Sungai
Long, Kajang yesterday.
A chief inspector, who led the am-
bush, was seriously injured when he was
shot by one of the suspects in the 3am
incident which led to a two-hour standoff
between the police and suspects.
Federal CID director Commissioner
Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin said a week ago
police had arrested a 30-year-old man
who is a member of the car hijacking
gang, and based on the information
they had gathered, the raiding team
from the Kuala Lumpur serious crimes
division went to the Green Acre Park
condominium to look for the woman
and another man.
It is learnt that the team forced its
way into the first-floor unit after the
suspects refused to open the door.
Mohd Bakri said as the personnel
searched the house, Chief Insp Ang Waei
Leong entered the master bedroom.
One of the suspects, who was in the
room, opened fire at Ang who suffered
gunshot wounds on his legs.
He said Ang’s team members man-
aged to drag him to safety.
Mohd Bakri said police urged the
suspects to give themselves up, but
one of them fired several shots from
the apartment balcony at a group of
policeman downstairs.
The drama came to an end at about
accomplice killed
COP SHOT AND INJURED BY SUSPECTS IN RAID
5am when the team barged into the
apartment again and gunned down the
woman and her male accomplice.
He said the suspects have been
identified as Wong Sau Lai, 22, and her
accomplice Goh Kiam Chai @ Ah Tok, 28,
but police are checking if their identity
cards are genuine.
Mohd Bakri said the gang of three rob-
bers had been active for about a year and
is behind at least 32 cases of car-jacking
of luxury vehicles especially BMWs worth
more than RM3 million. He said Goh had
eight previous convictions for various
crimes while the woman had a pending
court case and had jumped bail.
Police recovered fake number
plates, knives, parangs, two handguns
and several bullets among the items in
the house. A BMW reported stolen in
Cheras about a month ago was found
parked at the condominium.
On May 27, the woman, who was
already on police bail involving a gang
robbery, was arrested in Taman Muda,
Ampang after she was seen transfer-
ring boxes from one car to another. She
tried to escape when police arrived and
rammed her car into a patrol car. She
was, however, overpowered by the
policemen. The BMW she was driving
and a parked Toyota Altis at the scene
were both reported stolen.
She was later released on bail.
Police learnt that the woman tar-
geted luxury cars and preyed on her
victims on the pretext of asking for
directions or impersonating a direct-
selling saleswoman.
On gaining entry into the house of
the unsuspecting victims, her two male
accomplices would rush in and rob the
victim of their luxury vehicles.
At noon yesterday, Inspector-General
of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan visited
Ang (pix) who is warded at the Hospital
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Ang is
reported to be in stable condition.

Najib: Claims of huge spending on Two hired killers gunned down

Eurocopter deal proven wrong
KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun
Razak said yesterday the opposi-
tion’s claim that the government
was spending a huge amount of
money in the purchase of Eu-
rocopter helicopters has been
proven wrong.
He said the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) had declared
that it found no irregularities in
the purchase of 12 units of the
aircraft worth RM1.604 billion.
Najib, who is finance minis-
ter, said the government had a
systematic way of dealing with
procurement matters and would
ensure that the system and pro-
cedures were followed.
“The allegation is baseless and
has been proven wrong. That is
why we opened the process for
scrutiny by the PAC although it is
not proper to expose the matter
to too many parties because it
involves the armed forces.
“However, since the opposi-
tion has been making a big issue
out of the deal, we let the PAC
investigate,” he told reporters
after appearing in a special
interview with Radio Televi-
sion Malaysia on the stimulus
package in the 2009 Budget at
Angkasapuri, here.
PAC chairman Datuk Seri
Azmi Khalid said on Monday that
based on the committee’s two-
week scrutiny on the technical
and financial aspects of the deal,
it found that the process had
been carried out in accordance
with internationally accepted
procurement practices.
Azmi said the PAC only had
issues with the fact that no
physical evaluations were made
on the helicopters.
The Defence Ministry, how-
ever, had explained that it did not
carry out any test flights as the
helicopters were already being
used in several countries, Azmi
added.
The PAC consists of 14 mem-
bers including five opposition
MPs. – Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Two sus-
pected Indonesian hired killers
in their 30s were shot dead by
police in a gunfight at an iso-
lated area at Km20 Kampung
Tengah, Puchong yesterday.
Selangor police chief DCP
Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said
a police team from the Selan-
gor serious crimes division had
received information that the
suspects were in the area and
went to look for them.
He said the team was
scouring the place for the men
when they spotted them riding
a motorcycle next to the river.
He said police ordered the men
Press pixman held over bomb hoax
KUALA LUMPUR: A Tamil
newspaper photographer was
detained by police late Tuesday
over a bomb hoax during the
Umno supreme council meet-
ing in the Putra World Trade
Centre (PWTC) on Friday.
The man, who is in his early
40s, was picked up in his house
in Taman Sri Sentosa, off Old
Klang Road, by a police team.
to surrender but one of them
whipped out a pistol and
opened fire at the police team
while his accomplice charged
towards the detectives with a
parang. Both men were then
gunned down by police.
Khalid said the suspects,
whose identities have yet to
be acertained as they did not
have any identity documents
on them and went by several
nicknames, are behind the kill-
ing of an Indonesian man on
Aug 21 at Batu Belah, Klang.
He said while scouring the
area where the men were killed,
police found a t-shirt, a spent
Yesterday, he was remanded
for three days to facilitate in-
vestigations. It is believed that
he was traced from the phone
number the PWTC management
had received from a caller who
told them there was a bomb in
the building at about 4pm.
Dang Wangi OCPD ACP
Mohd Dzulkarnain Ibrahim, who
confirmed the man is in police
bullet shell and a bloodstained
torchlight by the riverbank.
There were also marks on the
ground indicating a body had
been dragged over a distance.
He said investigators believe
the suspects could have killed
someone there hours earlier
and disposed of the body in
the river.
Khalid said to verify their
suspicions, police are search-
ing the river for the body which
may have been swept away.
He urged those with missing
family members to contact the
Selangor police hotline at 03-
2052 2222.
custody, said investigators are
probing to identify the culprit
behind the bomb hoax.
The police bomb disposal
unit was summoned and they
found a plastic bag which con-
tained non-explosive items in it.
The supreme council meeting
was undisrupted throughout
the time the police went to
work to clear the plastic bag.

RM50m for schools ‘a good start’

by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: The government’s RM50
million allocation each for government-funded
religious schools, mission schools, Chinese
vernacular and Tamil vernacular schools under
the government’s stimulus package may not
be sufficient to meet their full expenses though
it is seen as a good start.
“The RM50 million allocated for each of the
four categories will be a good additional sum
to improve the school infrastructure as these
schools have not received sufficient alloca-
tions in the past,” said MCA central committee
member Datuk Lee Sing Chooi.
However, he said, some of the schools will
need much more funds than the allocation due to
their condition, size and geographic location.
“We urge the government to seriously look
into requirements of all streams in terms of
school maintenance and basic facilities.”
“Due to the different number of schools and
students in each stream, the government should
look into allocating the funds based on enrolment,
current state and condition of the schools.”
There are about 132 government-funded
religious schools, some 200 mission schools,
1,290 Chinese vernacular schools and 523
Tamil schools nationwide.
La Salle Schools’ education secretary
Brother Ambrose Loke said: “This is good news
for mission schools since they have not been
getting much funds from the government.”
He said mission schools all this while have
had to look for financial assistance from former
students and well-wishers.
MIC party secretary-general Datuk Dr S.
Subramaniam was reported to have said the al-
location was testimony that the government did
not forsake the Indian community and wanted
to improve the infrastructure of Tamil schools.
MCA Wanita chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei
Fun welcomed the suggestion that the govern-
ment may consider carrying out an open tender
policy whereby private and government-linked
companies may bid for government projects.
“We need to be more open-minded in facing
this era of globalisation where competitiveness
is embraced above any protectionist policy.”