Customs officers, others nabbed over RM30m robbery at dept’s storage facility
G. Prakash
Malay Mail6 August 2018
Customs director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said among the five arrested were two security guards who claimed they had been tied up with masking tape by the robbers. — Picture by Ahmad ZamzahuriMore
PETALING JAYA, Aug 6 — Police have arrested five men, including two Customs Department officers, in connection with the RM30 million robbery of the Department’s Narcotics Unit in Kampung Jijan, Nilai.
A group of masked men barged into the department yesterday morning and fled with seized drugs worth RM30 million.
Customs director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said among the five arrested were two security guards who claimed they had been tied up with masking tape by the robbers.
“All five suspects have been remanded for six days starting today. Police investigations are ongoing,” Subromaniam said.
He said the drugs that were stolen by the robbers were recently seized by Customs officers during an operation at Westport, Klang.
“The stolen boxes contained 50kg of ketamine and heroin. They were brought to the department’s narcotics unit’s storage facility in Nilai for further investigations,” he said.
Subromaniam said his department has already initiated an internal investigation and at this point, suspect that some parties within the department had facilitated in execution of the robbery.
“The officers found to be involved will be sacked immediately,” he said in a statement.
Subromaniam said the department has heightened security at all Customs Department buildings nationwide and Customs Operational Battle Force Response Assault (Cobra) is now in charge of security.
Earlier today, a police source told Malay Mail that at least 10 robbers wearing full face masks entered the compound of the Customs building in two four-wheel-drive vehicles at 3am.
There were only two guards on duty at that time.
They were allegedly beaten up by some of the suspects and tied up with masking tape at their guardhouse.
The robbers then proceeded towards the building where the seized drugs were kept inside a container.
They quickly managed to gain entry to one of the containers and took away the drugs that were stashed inside 80 boxes.
The boxes were loaded into the two four-wheel-drive vehicles, and the raiders left within minutes,
The guards — who were in their 50s — later managed to free themselves around 5am, and contacted their employer who alerted the authorities.
“One of the suspects told the guard they were there to ‘take back the drugs that were taken from them’,” the source said.
“The robbers knew where to look. There were several containers but they kind of knew which one contained the drugs,” he said.
A police report was lodged at the Nilai police headquarters.
