Puchong Prima robbery suspect used pistol stolen from policeman

 

Arjunaidi Mohamed showing the Walther P99 pistol recovered from the suspected robber yesterday. (Bernama pic)

SHAH ALAM: The suspect in a daring robbery near a bank in Puchong Prima, Puchong, near here yesterday is believed to have used a pistol stolen from a policeman who was killed in 2017.

Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said today the Walther P99 pistol was believed to have been taken from Lance-Corporal Valentino Mesa, who was attacked and shot at the USJ Pinggiran community police beat base on Aug 31 that year.

“Preliminary investigation found that the pistol used in the robbery near the bank yesterday was stolen from our personnel who had died.

“With the detention of the 38-year-old local suspect, we have succeeded in recovering the pistol,” he said.

He was speaking at a media conference on developments in the brazen robbery near a bank in Puchong Prima yesterday, in which a security guard was killed and another injured.

Mesa, 29, was found dead at the beat base by patrol unit members with a gunshot wound on the body at 3.25am.

Arjunaidi also said that police had identified six armed robberies in Selangor which were suspected to have been carried out by a lone robber using the pistol.

On yesterday’s case, he said that four guards from a security company were transferring RM1.03 million in cash from the bank to a van when the robber struck at 5.50pm.

“The suspect fired his pistol three times when a scuffle ensued between him and the guards. One shot hit a guard in the back, killing him. One of the other shots hit another guard in the chest, and he is being treated at Serdang Hospital,” he said.

“The suspect escaped with about RM500,000. Police were able to recover RM350,000 when we detained him,” he said.

The suspect was arrested in front of Maybank in Section 20 here at 6.10pm yesterday and has been remanded for seven days. - FMT