Two alleged gang members claim trial to armed robberies in Ipoh

IPOH: Two men from the notorious “Geng Jiva” were charged in the Sessions Court with being involved in a spate of armed robberies in several areas here.

K. Gunasegaran, 34, a wireman, and K. Kaliswaran, 35, a car wash worker from Taman Ipoh Timur, pleaded not guilty to the charges read out to them in Tamil by an interpreter before judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad on Thursday (Nov 9).

Gunasegaran, from Kampung Baru Buntong, was slapped with 10 charges including for breaking into a house to commit burglary, gang robbery, causing hurt in the course of a robbery and possessing weapons.

All the charges are under Section 457 of the Penal Code, Sections 395, 394, 397, 392 and 6(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

He was accused of committing the crimes between June 18 last year and Oct 18 this year at several locations including residential houses and by the roadside.

Kaliswaran was jointly charged with Gunasegaran with one charge of committing armed gang robbery using a weapon at a house in Regat Mansion on Oct 18 at about 10.30am.

In the process of the robbery, they took gold jewellery, cash, mobile phones and a watch.

Both accused were represented by lawyer Dayang Nor Emilia Azman Shah while DPP Mohamad Nazreen Zabarudin prosecuted.

Dayang Nor Emilia requested for lower bail, saying that Kaliswaran is married with two children and Gunasegaran is a bachelor.

Mohamad Nazreen requested for bail to be set at RM10,000 for each charge.

Ainul Shahrin fixed bail at RM5,000 for each charge for each accused.

She set Jan 9 for mention.

On Oct 26, Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm Yahaya Hassan had said police arrested four people, including a woman, believed to have been involved in a spate of armed gang robbery.

He had said that the suspects, aged between 26 and 35 years old, were arrested during a raid at a house in Taman Syabas here on Oct 24 at about 5.45pm.

“They are known as Geng Jiva, and they would go into people’s homes and even beart up the elderly while robbing them,”he had said.