MALAYSIA - In just over a week, two security guards in Malaysia have been involved in violent crimes.
The latest incident occurred at about 9am on Thursday, in Petaling Jaya, when an armed security guard robbed a jewellery outlet at the KL Festival City Mall.
A police source told The Star that the suspect was believed to be carrying a fake identity card.
The security guard, who had been on the job for less than two months, allegedly pointed a pistol at the store owner and escaped with a tray of jewellery. The value of the stolen jewellery has yet to be ascertained.
City deputy CID Chief Assistant Commissioner Khairy Ahrasa said the incident happened when the owner and the three employees were getting ready to open the store.
Said AC Khairy: "They had read about what happened at the bank and quickly gave him a tray of jewellery out of fear."
STILL IN UNIFORM
The guard, still in his uniform, took the tray and casually walked out of the mall.
Police said it happened so fast that no one, apart from the employees, knew what had happened.
They are also checking whether the pistol used in the robbery was issued to the guard by his security firm or was privately owned.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said that it was possible that he was a copycat robber.
Said Mr Khalid: "It is possible that this security guard got the idea from the security guard from AmBank. I also do not rule out more cases involving security guards robbing their employers."
When contacted by The Star, the security firm that had hired the guard did not comment on whether it did any checks on him or whether he was licensed to carry a firearm.
The first incident occurred last Wednesday when a security guard shot dead a bank officer after she opened the strongroom of an AmBank branch in Subang Jaya.
The guard escaped with about RM450,000 (S$176,600) from the vault.
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