POLICE detained nine people, including a married couple, over their alleged involvement with a syndicate paid by loan sharks to threatened borrowers who defaulted on their repayments.

Shah Alam district police chief Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim said the arrest of the seven men and two women, all locals between the age of 21 and 41,  was carried out over two days since last Monday in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

“They are suspected of being involved with unlicensed moneylenders to threaten loan defaulters by committing mischief, such pasting notices, locking houses and splashing paint on houses of borrowers in Shah Alam, as well as in several other areas,” he told at a press conference in Shah Alam today.

He said the syndicate began operating last month, where one of the suspects was offered the job when he went to the loan shark to borrow money.

The suspect was offered between RM300 and RM450 for the job (to threaten loan defaulters), depending on the distance and action taken, he said. 

The 41-year-old male suspect then invited his friends to join him.

Iqbal said as many as 80 transactions were made to the suspect’s account by a loan shark.

“We are tracking the loan sharks involved. We believe the syndicate is dealing with more than one loan shark, with most of the payments being made by cash deposit,” he added.

Iqbal said the preliminary investigation found that all of them were unemployed and seven of them had previous records.

All the suspects are in remand until Friday for investigations under section 5(2) of the Moneylenders Act and section 427 of the penal code, he added. – Bernama, March 29, 2023.