Saturday, April 10, 2010

Two brothers shot dead in shootout

IPOH, April 9 — Two brothers, one of them high on the police wanted list, were shot dead in a shootout in Jalan Kamunting, Taiping, about 100km from here, last night.

They were R. Satchithantham, 28, who had 15 criminal records, and his brother R. Logeswaran, 35, who had 21 records, said Perak CID chief SAC II Datuk Dzuraidi Ibrahim.

“One of the robbers was released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre last year.

“Logeswaran had six warrants of arrest against him and listed on the most wanted list. His body was identified based on his fingerprints,” Dzuraidi told reporters here today.

Dzuraidi said acting on information, the police ordered a car, which was earlier spotted behaving suspiciously, to stop but it reversed and sped off.

“Several shots were fired at the police from the car and the police returned fire, killing the driver and the front seat passenger.

“The police found a .22 revolver with six bullets, three empty shells, two machetes and a samurai sword in the car,” he added.

The police believed the duo were responsible for 15 armed robberies in Perak, Penang, Selangor, Johor, Kedah and Perlis since two years ago.

“The police are tracking down other members of the gang. They cover their faces with stockings while brandishing pistols at their victims and used hammers to break jewellery display cases,” said Dzuraidi. — Bernama