ALOR STAR: Three security guards believed they had everything figured out before lodging a report on their RM200,000 cash-in-transit (CIT) "robbery" on Tuesday (Nov 19).
However, their cooked-up "storyboard" crumbled when police sensed inconsistencies in their statements.
Further interrogations then led to the recovery of the loot within just two hours after the guards lodged their report.
Kota Setar acting police chief Superintendent Syed Basri Syed Ali said the guards, aged 28, 37 and 38, were accompanied by their employer when they came to lodge a report on Tuesday afternoon, claiming that they were robbed while conducting CIT transactions for their company.
"But within two hours, we managed to recover the RM200,000 cash that they claimed to have been robbed of.
"Following the discovery of the scam, the security company lodged another report," he said in a press conference here today.
Syed Basri said investigations revealed that the three guards had been working for the security company between 10 and 14 years.
However, he said it is believed that the suspects took the opportunity to commit the robbery scam after collecting cash from a bank in Kota Setar, which was supposed to be delivered to another financial institution in the district.
It is believed that the suspects planned to flee with the money once they managed to convince the authorities that it had gone missing with the "robbers".
"They claimed they were robbed, and the 'robbers' had fled with the cash, which was kept in a sack after being picked up from the bank branch," said Syed Basri.
"All three guards are locals and have no criminal records. However, two of them tested positive for methamphetamine."
Syed Basri added that police had recovered the sack containing the cash, besides seizing a motorcycle, security guard uniforms and the guards' mobile phones from various locations across Kota Setar.
"The suspects have been remanded for three days starting yesterday for further investigations," he said.
Police have classified the case under Section 408 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust by an employee.