PRIME SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED: (From left) Yeoh, Kordi and Heng at the press conference.
SIBU: Police are tracing the whereabouts of two men from the Peninsula whom they suspect have been using the names of several notorious figures like Lee Long, Cili and Ang Ho to extort money from the locals.
Sibu police chief ACP Mohd Kamal Kordi believed the duo had accomplices here.
“They would identify the victims before calling them to extort money,” Kamal told a press conference at the Police Headquarters here yesterday.
The suspects were identified as Teh Woon Chuan, 25, and Lam Chong Boon, 37.
“We are still investigating the background of the suspects, including if they had previous records,” Kamal said.
“They would call their victims, extorting them for ‘protection money’ after bandying the name of either Lee Long, or Cili or Ang Ho,” said the police chief of their modus operandi.
He added that the callers spoke in Bahasa Malaysia, Hokkien or Foochow.
He said the callers would threaten to hurt the victims, set their houses on fire or damage their vehicles if the demands were not met.
He said the police had checked with telecommunication companies on five handphone numbers – 0166180704, 0126286325, 0162925637, 0189576962, 0102361889 – which the suspects had used.
According to the police, they were in the process of blacklisting the numbers.
Kamal believed the suspects were based at the Southern part of Johor.
He urged those who had been victimised to lodge a report with the police.
The police chief said eight such extortion cases were reported in November.
Of the eight cases, only one was reported to have lost money amounting to RM350 after depositing into the bank account provided by the caller, he revealed.
Kamal said the suspects used five bank accounts in their crime.
He added that the bank accounts belonged to the suspects and a company named Boon Bayaa Trading which was registered in Johor Bahru.
“We hope members of the public would give us information that may lead to the arrest of the duo.
“Call ASP Yeoh Chun Shyan on 0122626191 or Inspector Heng Kok How (012-383 6857) if you have information,” he appealed to the public.