21 arrested in tin ingot robbery

2009/11/05

JOHOR BAHARU: Police have arrested 21 people believed to have been involved in the robbery of tin, copper and silver ingots worth RM3 million at a factory in the Senai Industrial Park, near here, end of last month.

Johor deputy police chief Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said the suspects - two lorry drivers, a business middleman, seven involved in buying of stolen items and 11 workers - were arrested within 48 hours of the robbery.

"In the 10.30pm incident on Oct 24, 15 masked men armed with parang entered the factory through the front and back entrances before tying up the security guard and eight factory workers in the toilet.

"They damaged the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and took the record before carting off various types of tin, copper and silver ingots in a trailer and a 5-tonne lorry," he told reporters here today.

Jalaluddin said following a police report, a special police team arrested the men, aged between 25 and 50, and recovered 289 tin ingots weighing seven tonnes, 12 tin blocks weighing 12 tonnes, 50 tin bars, RM29,000 and three lorries in three recycling factories in Tampoi, Senai and Kulai.

Police were looking for several others involved, and urged recycling companies to contact them should they be approached by suspicious sellers of tin, copper and silver ingots. - Bernama