Malaysia Crime Watch

25 January 2008
Ipoh

Police have arrested four suspects aged between 19 and 50 years, believed to be members of the Mamak Gang, at the 297 kilometre mark of the North-South Expressway, near Gopeng, on 18 January 2008 at 7pm.

They found RM40,936 cash, 13 mobile phones, 2 fake police authority cards, 13 fake road tax stickers, a fake identity card, a Customs Department security card, a Malaysian Airlines security card and pepper spray in the Toyota Wish vehicle that was stopped. It is believed that the cash was from a robbery case in Selangor a few days ago and the vehicle was reported stolen from Taiping last year.

Two suspects were under restricted residence in Negri Sembilan and Malacca while another was involved in a police shoot-out in Penang last year. With their arrests, including the mastermind, police believe that at least 9 cases in Perak, Selangor and Penang would have been solved.

The Mamak Gang is well-known for hijacking luxurious vehicles and robbing people who had just withdrawn money from banks. About 150 robberies, including cargo hijackings and warehouse break-ins, are attributed to them. Last year, the gang tried to steal a Porsche 911 Targa 4 from the Auto City showroom in Seberang Jaya and later at the Bukit Mertajam police headquarters.

The Star Online – Notorious Mamak Gang busted
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/26/nation/20132606&sec=nation>

New Straits Times – Robbery suspects nabbed
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2142177/Article/index_html>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, ipoh, gopeng, mamak gang, robbery, car hijack

25 January 2008
Shah Alam

32-year-old Haizal Hambalia, a technical specialist from Celcom, took to the stand on the 80th day of the murder trial of Altantuya Shaariibuu, admitting that he had made changes to data in a document presented to court previously.

The document, which Haizal prepared, detailed accused Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri’s mobile phone calls. Haizal noticed that the structure and arrangement of the column for the location area code (LAC) were not in accordance with the convention adopted by Celcom, for transactions made between 17 and 21 October 2006.

Haizal explained that although the LAC was inaccurate, the cell IDs of transmission stations do not change and are unique. The location of every transmission station corresponding to every phone transaction remains unchanged, thus the locations at which the calls were allegedly made would not be changed.

Haizal said his colleague Mohd Firdaous Mohd Omar from the special project and investigation department had requested that a “location mapping” on Azilah’s SIM card be prepared. Haizal sent the “location mapping” to Mohd Firdaous on 13 June 2007.

Mohd Firdaous then prepared Azilah’s phone detail records which showed that Azilah’s phone was used in the Puncak Alam area on the night of Altantuya’s murder.

On 16 June 2007, investigating officers ASP Tonny Lunggan and DSP Gan Tack Guan, and two other officers, took Haizal to several areas of Bukit Damansara, Bangsar, Bukit Aman, Kota Damansara, Subang and Puncak Alam. Using a drive measurement tool which showed the transmitting station of any area, Haizal identified the various transmission stations which would be used by a mobile phone user.

The trial continues next Wednesday.

The Star Online – Technician: I altered data header
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/25/courts/20125252&sec=courts>

New Straits Times – Altantuya murder trial: ‘Calls traceable even if area code changes’
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/2141206/Article/index_html>

MCW – Altantuya Murder Trial: Mobile Location Traceable
<URL:http://malaysiacrimewatch.lokety.com/altantuya-murder-trial-mobile-location/>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, shah alam, murder, trial, death, altantuya, shaariibuu, altantuya shaariibuu, abdul razak baginda, baginda, azilah hadri, sirul azhar, haizal hambalia, celcom, call data, location area code, cell id, transmission station, location mapping

25 January 2008
Kuala Lumpur

Outgoing city police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib Baharudin said that the crime rate in Kuala Lumpur has decreased by 6.7% in 2007 compared to the previous year. This represents a drop of 2,245 cases.

The crime-solving rate was 35%, which is significantly higher than the standard 20% set by Interpol.

He said the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department have seized firearms and live bullets, 44,381gm of heroin, 70,830gm of ganja, 3,674gm of amphetamines, 19,236gm of ketamine, 8,139 Ecstasy pills, 37,046 Eramin 5 pills, 8,159 pills of psychotropic drugs and 55 litres of codeine.

450 drug traffickers were arrested, 2,888 people were detained for possession of drugs and 3,456 more detained under the Dangerous Drug Act.

The Star Online – KL crime rate drops
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/25/nation/20120545&sec=nation>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, kuala lumpur, crime rate, crime statistics