IPOH, Feb 20 — Thirty-six secret society members were charged at the Sessions Court here today for their involvement in an organized criminal group.
All 36 were accused of being members of the notorious “Gang 04” criminal group between January 1, 2015 and January 27, 2018 in Ipoh, Perak.
For this offence, they were charged for being a member of an organised criminal group under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of between five and 20 years upon conviction.
The court offered no bail to all accused, while no plea was recorded by the suspects in front of judge Murtazadi Amran.
Sixteen of the suspects were represented by counsel, while the remaining 20 were unrepresented in court.
The accused represented by lawyers are as follows: Mohamed Shariff Mohamed Ibrahim, Muhamed Sidik Mohamed Ibrahim, M. Perbakaran, R. Sargunan, B. Murli, M. Ganesan, N. Michael Raj, Abdul Rahman Subbaiah Salim, M. Selva, S. Jesudass, K. Kartikkesan, S. Kevin, P. Jeventhyren, L. Tamil Selven, S. Kalidas, and K. Arun.
Meanwhile, those unrepresented were: A. Kughan, J. Thruselvam, K. Thiruchelvan, K. Kugan, A. Samuel Dhinakaran, K. Sattiyarao, S. Vijendran, B. Chandran, T. Kavitheian, C. Tinabalan, K. Selvam, T. Kamal, S.Thatchana Moorthy, M. Munian, R. Kesavan, P. Fatri, F. Niclos, S. Jagathesan, R. Paramesh Rao, and A. Govalsamy.
Murtazadi set March 20 for mention of the cases, and the application for the cases to be heard in the High Court.
Deputy public prosecutors Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Mohd Izhanudin Alias appeared for the prosecution.
Earlier in the day, the accused were transported to the lower court complex under tight security in a convoy of police vehicles.
The suspects left the central lockup at the Perak police contingent at around 8.50am aboard three “Black Maria” vehicles.
Two police trucks and several police cars were present to securely escort the suspects along the 450m journey to the courthouse.
In total, over 100 police personnel were estimated to be on hand to monitor the passage of the suspects.
Traffic police temporarily closed off parts of Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab and Jalan Sultan Iskandar while the convoy went past ― attracting curious glances from onlookers.
Dozens of people, believed to be the accused's family and friends, also crowded the entrance of the lower court complex after the suspects were brought in.
Yesterday, Malay Mail reported that the secret society members were linked to numerous murders, extortions, robberies, arson and drug trafficking offences.
