Seven Ah Long members arrested in Johor

29 Sep 2022 06:43pm

Kamarul Zaman Mamat show pictures of the suspect during a press conference at the Johor Contingent Police Headquarters today. - Bernama Photo

JOHOR BAHRU - Seven individuals, believed to be members of an Ah Long (loan shark) syndicate were arrested in raids conducted around Kota Tinggi and Iskandar Puteri on Sept 14.

They had splashed paint and made criminal threats against the victims and their families who failed to settle their loans.

Johor police chief, Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said six men and a woman, all locals aged between 20 and 32, were arrested following intelligence and information from the public.

He said police also seized various items including nine mobile phones of various types, 11 SIM cards, four cars and 12 books containing borrower's documents.

"The preliminary investigation found that the syndicate is believed to have been operating since October last year. This syndicate’s modus operandi was to advertise the loans offered via Facebook and distribute the business cards offering legal money lending services to deceive borrowers.

"The permitted loans were from RM1,000 up to RM50,000, depending on the borrower's documents, while the loan interest charged was 30 per cent with the payments to be made on a weekly basis," he said at a press conference, here, today.

He said if the borrowers failed to make payments, the syndicate would threaten and then spray paint to scare the borrowers and their families into repaying the loans at a higher rate.

According to him, with the arrest of seven members of the said syndicate, police have solved 43 cases of splashing paint, criminal threats and wrongful obstruction in Batu Pahat, Muar, Kluang, Pontian, Segamat and the Iskandar region.

The case is being investigated under Section 5 (2) of the Money Lenders Act 1951 and if found guilty, the culprits could be fined up to RM1 million or imprisoned for not more than five years or both. - BERNAMA