JOHOR BARU: An illegal money lending syndicate mastermind who advertised on Facebook to recruit henchmen to harass defaulters was exposed with the arrest of six men in raids across Johor, Negri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur.
Johor police chief Commissioner M. Kumar said the men, aged between 35 and 51, were arrested in raids over four days, from June 28 to July 1.
He said the Ah Long had blatantly advertised positions for the henchmen to carry out criminal threats on the defaulters' property.
The advertising was for recruits to vandalise defaulters' houses and vehicles by splashing paint and to commit arson by lobbing Molotov cocktails.
Investigations revealed that the six suspects in police custody who had past criminal and drug-related records had contacted the loan shark syndicate mastermind via WhatsApp after they stumbled upon the FB advertisement.
They never met the mastermind, only communicating via WhatsApp.
They were offered RM400 to splash red paint onto the defaulters' properties, while they could earn RM700 for each Molotov cocktail hurled.
After the "tasks" were completed, they were required to send video evidence to the mastermind via WhatsApp to a Singapore-registered number.
Their "salaries" would then be banked in to their respective bank accounts.
Kumar said the henchmen who gained "employment" in April this year were believed to have been responsible for 24 cases in Johor, Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.
During the raids, police seized threatening notes which were normally stuck onto the victim's gates or vehicles after the damage was done.
Also seized were two cans of paint, thinner, face masks, mobile phones and three cars.
Kumar said the suspects would usually hide their faces with the masks while carrying out the vandalism and arson.
They then pasted the threatening notes on the gates, warning their victims to pay up immediately or face the consequences.
The note carried a Singapore-registered phone number which has since been deactivated.
Investigations are underway to ascertain the identity of the syndicate's mastermind.
Five of the six henchmen who were remanded until July 14 tested positive for taking methamphetamines.
The WhatsApp conversations between the six and the mastermind have been deleted, while the advertisement has been removed from FB.
The suspects will be charged for mischief by fire, harassment and drug offences.