KUALA LUMPUR: A deal to purchase gold ended horribly for an engineer after the man who was supposed to sell the items ran off with over RM360,000 in cash.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said a group of foreigners have been arrested over the theft.
He said Ampang Jaya police received a report from the 45-year-old engineer who claimed he met a man at his office at around 4.20pm on June 24 over a gold purchasing deal.
"The complainant claimed that he entered a car with the suspect and was brought to Jalan Sulaiman 1 as the suspect claimed he could complete the transaction around the area of the suspect's office.
"The suspect got out of the vehicle to see proof of the cash, and told the complainant that he would count the cash in the vehicle," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
The suspect told the complainant to sit in the back seat of the vehicle in order to supervise the counting of the cash.
"The complainant placed the bag of cash on the floor of the front passenger side of the vehicle and sat in the back seat.
"It was then that the suspect suddenly grabbed the bag of cash and darted out of the vehicle and fled in a Honda City car," he said.
Hussein said the complainant tried to open the car door but it was locked. He could only get out by climbing out of the back window.
The complainant tried to chase the suspect but to no avail.
"He lost RM360,966 cash in that incident.
"We conducted investigations and arrested three foreign men and a foreign woman between 8.40pm on June 28 and 11.15am on June 29 near Persiaran TRX and Jalan Razak Mansion," he said.
The four suspects, aged between 24 and 37 have been remanded to assist investigations.
"Our investigations revealed that the suspects promised to sell gold to willing buyers before fleeing with the money during the exchange process.
"The case is being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft," he said.