ALOR STAR: Four Vietnamese men suspected of being members of the notorious ‘Tebuk’ Gang were killed in a shootout with police at KM19.2 of the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE) near the Lunas Toll Plaza this morning.
The men, in their 20s and 30s, were travelling in a car on the BKE when they were spotted by police on patrol at Batu 7-½ of Padang Serai at 4.40am.
Their suspicions raised, the policemen began tailing the vehicle, which suddenly sped off.
The cops eventually caught up with the car, bringing it to a stop. When the officers identified themselves through a bullhorn, one of the gang members opened fire.
Police returned fire, killing all four men on-the-spot. None of the policemen was injured, Kedah Criminal Investigation Department chief Assistant Superintendent Mior Farid Al Athrash Wahid told Bernama.
Police later recovered a pistol and two machetes from the car, he told Bernama.
The ‘Tebuk’ Gang earned its name from its modus operandi of drilling open the safes of supermarkets and warehouses across the state and stealing the money.
In early July, police said that the gang had gotten away with about RM100,000, which was sent to Vietnam.
Four other members of the gang were prosecuted in Jitra earlier this week.