KUALA LUMPUR: For five months, police waited patiently to arrest one of the main figures in a moneylending syndicate.
The man, a Datuk in his 40s, had left the country in July to escape a blitz on loan sharks by the Home Ministry in July.
Police patience paid off last week when they received word that the man had returned to Malaysia believing he was safe. He was arrested in the Federal capital by Bukit Aman police and is now under remand.
The man was the tenth member of a syndicate to be picked up by police over the past few months. From the 10, some RM49 million in assets were frozen.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin said: “We have frozen their bank accounts and other assets which total around RM49 million under the Forfeiture of Property Act.”
He said five men arrested with the Datuk and four more loan sharks who were arrested earlier between July and early December were sent to Machang for detention under preventive laws.
He said more arrests were expected to be made soon.
“We are still tracking down the remaining members that we have identified. Once they come out from their hiding either here or overseas, we will nab them.”
On June 22, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein declared an all-out war against Ah Long.
Hishammuddin instructed police to come down hard on Ah Long, especially those who used violence and threats to recover their loans.
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