GEORGE TOWN (BERNAMA) – Two men were shot dead in a shootout with the police in Penang, Malaysia yesterday.
They were believed to be en route to commit a crime, either robbery or drug trafficking.
Penang Police Chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said that a team from the special investigation unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) encountered a suspicious vehicle at 2.05am.
“When the police attempted to inspect the vehicle, the suspects fired shots, prompting the police to return fire in self-defence,” he said at a press conference at the Penang Police Contingent Headquarters yesterday.
He reported that after the situation calmed down, the police conducted an inspection and found that both the driver and the front passenger, aged 41 and 51 respectively, had died from gunshot wounds.
Hamzah added that further inspection yielded two Glock and SW 38 pistols and 176 bullets in the car.
Police investigations found that they had obtained the firearms from a neighbouring country.
He said the police also conducted checks on the vehicle and found that it was believed to have been stolen, as it belonged to a man in Terengganu and its road tax had expired since 2021.
“Investigations also revealed that the two men had 12 and 13 previous criminal records.
We are currently investigating to determine whether they were members of a secret society,” he said.
