KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Police are looking into the possibility of the gold heist at the Besraya Highway yesterday, and a similar brazen robbery in Ipoh in August last year being committed by the same group.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said at a press conference today that police have been hard at work to ascertain the identities and determine the modus operandi of the perpetrators.

"The robbery which happened yesterday is still under investigation...there are some similarities between both cases, KL police CID will be liaising with its counterpart in Perak on the details,” said Saiful Azly.

He said that it is important for the police to establish an effective plan to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

"Maybe we can run a special operation with the cooperation of jewellers and money changers to ensure incidents like this don’t happen again,” he said.  

Saiful Azly also responded to queries from the media on the absence of security escorts guarding the jewelry consignment in the incident.

"We always advise them to hire security personnel. However, the decision is in their own hands...maybe they were used to moving around like this (without security escorts),” Saiful Azly said at a press conference here after the Kuala Lumpur Narcotics Investigations Department drug disposal event.

The media yesterday reported that a gold salesman and his friend faced some anxious moments when they were robbed by three men armed with machetes on the expressway.

The victims were on their way to distribute jewelry around Kuala Lumpur when their vehicle was blocked by two black Toyota Hilux before the three armed men wearing ski mask broke its window, dragged them out of the car, and sped off.

The two victims, aged 21 and 47, were left by the roadside. They were also injured by the shattered glass. 

Police found the stolen vehicle razed in Damansara. Brickfields district police chief ACP Zairulnizam Mohd Zainuddin @ Hilmi said the case is investigated under Section 395/397 for armed robbery. — Bernama