KUALA LUMPUR: Concerned by the boldness of organised crime syndicates, the police have set up a task force to bring these gangsters to book.

The main focus will be the Klang Valley where incidents of violent crime have increased.

Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Bakri Zinin said police were concentrating on air-tight intelligence gathering before moving in.

"This operation is similar to Ops Cantas Kenyalang, which was launched in Sarawak against organised crime syndicates and netted more than 40 gangsters," he told the New Straits Times.

"We have shifted our focus to the Klang Valley because the criminals seem to be getting bolder here."
This, despite several top gang leaders and lieutenants being arrested and sent to the detention centre in Simpang Renggam under the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969.

"More gangs are out there and the task force will identify the key members before moving in. Some are local gangs while others are from neighbouring countries," Bakri disclosed.

"The foreign gangs commit a robbery here, return to their country and come back here months later.

"I am confident that we will be able to clean up the Klang Valley."

The gangs police are targeting are those involved in extortion, gang fights, murders and smuggling.

This police offensive has been triggered by last week's violent spree by six men armed with parang in Taman Sentosa, Klang. They picked out people at random in the streets and attacked them, leaving two dead and five others severely injured.

That incident got the attention of Bukit Aman as did the the recent turf war between two rival gangs in Kajang where students became the innocent victims.

In a case of mistaken identity, the students were set upon by parang-wielding assailants in separate incidents. One student died and there were several casualties.

A source disclosed that police were not going to allow these secret societies, believed to be Gangs 24 and 36, to set demarcation lines to determine their respective territories and terrorise residents.

The source disclosed that 128 criminals had been detained this year and sent to the detention centre while 12 other secret society members were banished under the Restricted Residence Act 1933.

The source also said that police would be better prepared to deal with notorious underworld kingpins and figures than they had been in 2005, where due to a combination of poorly prepared cases, technicalities and simple mistakes, more than 40 of the country's most wanted suspects successfully won their release from the detention centre.

It was the largest number of detainees who had their habeas corpus applications upheld by the court in recent years and severely dented police efforts to crack down on organised crime syndicates.

"This time, everything will be in order, beginning with the intelligence gathered to the initial arrest to documents submitted to the Home Ministry," the source disclosed.

"A comprehensive 'case file' will be built against the suspects to ensure that there would be no loopholes for them to exploit later on."

Police are expected to use the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordinance 1969 against suspected gangsters, which allows them to detain the suspects for 60 days.

During this period, the "case file" will be forwarded to the home minister.

If the minister is satisfied that there is a strong case, he will sign the detention order. This allows for the suspect to be held at Simpang Renggam for at least two years.

About 700 suspected gangsters and hard-core criminals are being detained under preventive laws.