ARAU: Two policemen had a close shave to death when a thief tried to run them over in a Proton X70 SUV to evade arrest near Taman Jejawi Permai here early today.
District police chief superintendent Ahmad Mohsin Md Rodi said the 4.20am incident unfolded when four policemen from the state police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) D4 branch in their routine patrol round spotted four men in the SUV behaving suspiciously.
"Upon arriving at a traffic light T-junction in Jalan Arau-Kangar in Jejawi, the team spotted the red SUV and suspected the four men were stealing cable.
"The team tried to flag down the vehicle, but the driver stepped on the gas instead and rammed into the police car before trying to knock down two policemen who alighted from the police car," he told a press conference at his office today.
He said the two policemen fired five shots at the SUV before the driver sped off from the scene.
However, the vehicle came to a stop at the entrance of Taman Jejawi Permai after a short chase of 700 metres.
"The shots hit the SUV's windscreen and its side. The suspects tried to flee, but the policemen managed to overpower them after a brief scuffle, resulting in one of the thieves suffering a minor injury to his left eyebrow," he said.
Mohsin said all the thieves, aged between 20 and 34, hailed from Sungai Petani, Kedah.
He said checks showed that two of them had prior records, including drug abuse.
He said the police seized an assortment of equipment to steal telco cables and a 150-metre cable belonging to Telekom Malaysia Bhd.