theSun | TUESDAY JANUARY 6 2009
news without borders
Car hijacking and rape
gang smashed, 19 held
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have smashed a
gang behind a string of car hijackings, rob-
beries and rape with the arrest of 19 men in a
three-week operation.
The operation by the city serious crimes
division was one of the major successes
notched up by the police last year.
The five-man gang, called the Jongos
Gang, and 14 others who acted as middlemen
who disposed the loot, were active for only
about six months but were behind at least
two dozen car hijackings and eight rape cases
in the city and in Selangor and other states.
City police chief DCP Datuk Mohd Sabtu
Osman told reporters yesterday a 30-year-old
taxi driver and the gang’s 35-year-old master-
mind, both of whom lived with their families
in Wangsa Maju, were the first to be arrested
on Dec 4 close to their homes.
This led to the arrest of three other gang
members, aged between 18 and 30, in Gom-
bak on Dec 24.
Over the next several days, 14 men were
picked up for acting as brokers who disposed
the cars at a tenth of their market value to
unsuspecting buyers.
“They sold the cars at between RM6,000
and RM60,000 although their value was be-
Jobless man gets 28 years for
abducting, robbing and raping nurse
SHAH ALAM: A jobless man was sentenced to
28 years in jail and eight strokes of the rotan by
the High Court here yesterday for abducting,
robbing and raping a nurse six years ago.
His 20-year-old accomplice was ordered
to spend time in prison until his 21st birthday
because he was only 14 when he committed
the offences.
S. Civajanam, 30, and the juvenile offender had
pleaded guilty to all the charges before Judicial
Commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim.
According to the facts of the case, the nurse,
who was then 19, was driving home from work
when she was hit from behind by a car with the
two accused in it. When she got out to inspect
her car, the duo threatened her with a parang
and forced her to get into their car.
Civajanam and his accomplice admitted to
briefs
No report of retrenchments,
says Penang panel
GEORGE TOWN: In spite of the global economic
downturn, the Penang government has not ob-
tained any report of retrenchment exercises
carried out by factories in the state.
State human resources committee chairman
Ajit Singh Jessy said yesterday manufacturing
companies have not resorted to retrenching their
workers but are instead offering longer leave and
voluntary separation schemes.
“Our committee has not been informed of
any retrenchment or shutting down of factories
in Penang despite the speculation going around,
especially on the Internet,” he told theSun.
Next Tokoh Ma’al Hijrah may
get RM1m
KUALA TERENGGANU: The government may
give the next Tokoh Ma’al Hijrah RM1 million
if there are sponsors, Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad
Zahid Hamidi said yesterday.
He said the objective was to uplift the
9
tween five and 10 times more,” Mohd Sabtu
said.
He said two suspects among the brokers
detained were also involved in producing and
selling forged road tax discs for the cars. The
two, including a former army sergeant, had
sold about 60 such vehicle documents for
between RM200 and RM300 each.
Mohd Sabtu said police recovered 13 cars,
including several luxury models.
He said the gang members would trail
their targeted victims and when the drivers
stopped and stepped out of their cars, the
gang would confront them with parangs
before robbing them and escaping in their
victims’ cars.
In eight cases reported in Selangor, the
gang members had not only hijacked the cars
but also abducted their female victims and
gang-raped them.
Police have identified 26 criminal cases
linked to the gang and are investigating to see
if there are more.
Last year, police also smashed 10 other
gang – called Tiger, Aman, AAO, Ah Tok, Ah
Meng, Mamak, Modesto, Ah Seow, Netagi,
and Hartamas – and recovered a large array
of weapons and firearms.
Among the items seized were 25 handguns
and pumpguns, three hand-grenades and
1,052 bullets.
have robbed the nurse of a gold necklace and a
watch by the roadside at Batu 16, Sungai Pelong,
near here, at about 10pm on July 17, 2003.
For this offence, Civajanam was to serve eight
years in jail and whipped three times.
He and the juvenile offender also admitted
to have abducted the woman and for this, Civa-
janam was sentenced to four years jail.
They also raped her in the back seat of a car
near a car park on Jalan Alfa 9/5, Kampung Baru
Subang 2, between 11.30pm and 2.30am the
next day. The nurse was left in a housing area
in Jinjang.
Civajanam received 16 years’ jail and five
strokes for the rape.
Abang Iskandar ordered the jail terms to run
consecutively from the day the accused was
arrested on July 18, 2003. – Bernama
status of Islam, besides giving appreciation to
the recipient.
“Though the prize is not a priority, it is to
appreciate the ulama whose contributions
are bigger compared with singers. If, last year,
we gave RM100,000 to those named Tokoh
Ma’al Hijrah, this year, we may give them RM1
million,” he told reporters after the launch of
the Terengganu chapter of Majlis Amal Islami
Malaysia (Maim) here.
“If singers and sportsmen can get sponsor-
ships from companies, why not the ulama?
Government-linked companies, for instance,
can become sponsors.” – Bernama
‘Customers’ grab RM200,000
worth of jewellery
GEORGE TOWN: Two men posing as customers
robbed a jewellery shop of about RM200,000 worth
of gold items here yesterday.
The men, dressed in black, had approached
Gaik Choo Jewellery on Level Two of Komtar at
about 12.30pm on the pretext of buying jewellery.
As they sat in front of the glass display, they
whipped out pistols and ordered shop owner Ong
Bee Choo, 65, and her husband, Teoh Kim Beng,
also 65, to unlock the display and squat.
One of the men emptied five trays of jewellery
into a bag while the other kept watch over the
couple. There were no customers at the time.
The robbers escaped on a motorcycle.