SUNGEI PETANI, July 23 — Gangsters stormed Kuala Muda police headquarters, hurling a Molotov cocktail in a brazen retaliation against a crackdown on Gang 04.

No one was hurt in the 3.35am attack but there were scorched marks at the entrance to the headquarters and on Jalan Badlishah, which leads to the station.

The attackers also left a 20cm long banner, emblazoned with a sign of a swastika and the gangland related “04” numerical, with the words “Last warning PDRM”.

A source said: “We believe they stormed the headquarters to avenge the recent arrest of 62 of 04 gang members (on July 18) in Selangor, Penang and Kedah during the recent Ops Cantas Khas.”

The drama unfolded after a police corporal on guard duty spotted two men on a yellow motorcycle trying to hang a banner on the perimeter fence.

When the sentry shouted at them, the two hurled a petrol bomb before speeding off.

The policeman alerted his colleagues and a manhunt was mounted

Police seized fragments of a broken glass bottle believed filled with petrol.

Sources said 04 gang members were active in drug-running activities.

Past cases involving Molotov cocktails in Malaysia

May 21, 2017

A police corporal’s multi-purpose vehicle was destroyed when two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compound of his home in Tambun, Perak. The 43-year-old, attached with the district police narcotics department, was on duty at the time of the incident. His family was at home. A witness saw two men on motorcycles outside the house before the Molotov cocktails were hurled.

December 13, 2016

Swift action by a family prevented their home in Batu Kawah, Kuching from being razed. They were in when they heard an explosion in the porch and on checking found the wall by the front door on fire. They managed to douse the flames with a garden hose. They later learnt unidentified individuals had hurled a Molotov cocktail into the compound.

April 7, 2016

Two unidentified individuals threw two Molotov cocktails into the family home of lawyer Kamal Hisham Jaafar in Kampung Majidee, Johor Baru. The lawyer’s mother detected the smell of kerosene and on checking found the car in the porch partially burnt and a section of the wall scorched. Damage to the car and wall of the house was ascertained at about RM300,000.

March 17, 2016

Three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compound of the Hulu Langat assistant enforcement unit chief’s home in Kajang in what was believed to be an attempt to intimidate him. The officer had prior to the incident conducted operations to curb illegal sand excavation activities in Kajang.

December 21, 2015

A woman’s car at the open parking lot outside Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya caught fire. Witnesses later told police a man, believed to be the woman’s husband, had hurled Molotov cocktails at the vehicle. A Molotov cocktail is an improvised incendiary device. Also known as petrol bomb, alcohol bomb, bottle bomb, poor man’s grenade, or simply Molotov, it consists of a stoppered bottle filled with a combustible liquid, such as gasoline or high-proof alcohol, with a fuel-soaked rag stuffed in the neck of the bottle. The stopper separates the fuel from the part of the rag that acts as a fuse. To use a Molotov cocktail, the rag is ignited and the bottle is thrown against a vehicle or fortification. The bottle breaks, spraying fuel into the air. The vapour and droplets are ignited by the flame, producing a fireball and then a burning fire, which consumes the remainder of the fuel.