Johor police out to get 'The Rat'

By CHUAH BEE KIM | johor@nst.com.my

NOTORIOUS GANGSTER: He is believed to be the leader of the Rat Gang

JOHOR BARU: HIGH on Johor police's wanted list is a 40-year-old man dubbed "The Rat". He is believed to be the leader of the notorious Rat Gang.

State police chief Datuk Mokhtar Shariff said the suspect is on a RM30,000 court bail.

Mokhtar said police had arrested many members of the gang. The latest arrest took place at 5.30am on Aug 4, where four men and an Indonesian woman, aged between 25 and 30, were detained at a house in Taman JP Perdana.

"With the arrest of the five, we believe we have solved 10 criminal cases in Iskandar Malaysia. Three of those arrested have police records, including convictions for drugs, murder and causing injury to their victims," Mokhtar said.

During the raid, police seized laptops, four LCD TVs, a VCD player, home theatre set, home sauna, cutter, gloves, a bunch of master keys and two cars which were reported stolen.

Mokhtar said the gang, which had been active since the beginning of the year, consisted of members with previous convictions for violent crimes.

Meanwhile, police are looking for Lee Sai Kiew, whom they believe can shed some light on the case.

In a separate case, Mokhtar said police arrested three men and a woman, all locals, aged between 23 and 35 for at least 15 housebreaking cases in Seri Alam. They were arrested during a 4am raid at a house in Taman Desa Cemerlang, here.

Police seized two Toyota Wish multi-purpose vehicles which were reported missing in Taman Johor Jaya, a steel cutter, folding knife, grinder, two sets of Allen keys, two spanners and other items. The suspects did not have previous police records.

In another case, police patrolling at the car park of Sultanah Aminah Hospital spotted a car driver behaving suspiciously at 4.30am on Aug 8. Police ordered the car to stop, but the driver sped off instead, causing the patrol team to give chase.

"The patrol team managed to stop the car after a brief chase. However, some members of the public sided with the suspects and blamed the police concerning the chase.

"We (police) do not have a habit of asking people to stop unless we find the situation suspicious, and when we ask you to stop, please do not run.

"One of the men in the car managed to flee, while another man, 27, was detained," he said, adding that police found five parang, an axe, three masks and a pair of gloves.

The vehicle they were driving had been reported missing in Gelang Patah.

Mokhtar said police believe the arrest of the man had enabled police to solve 12 housebreaking cases in Johor Baru Utara district.

Johor police out to get 'The Rat'

NOTORIOUS GANGSTER: He is believed to be the leader of the Rat Gang

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