SHAH ALAM, June 14 — A total 38 individuals from 10 illegal loan syndicates or Ah Longs were detained by police in separate raids conducted in Selangor (from June 3 to 8) early this month.

Selangor police chief, Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said all the syndicates involved were believed to have been operating in the Klang Valley between two weeks to a year ago by promoting loan services through advertisements on posters, buntings and pamphlets to the public.

He said the syndicate offered loans up to RM1 million at high interest rates of 10 to 15 per cent a month.

"All the suspects, aged from 21 to 61 years old, comprised 32 local men, two local women, three foreign men and a foreign woman. Of the total, 17 have criminal records,” he told a virtual media conference today.

In addition, he said six cases were reported involving the Ah Long syndicates offering non-existent loans which were promoted on various online platforms such as Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram.

"The victims did not receive money but were duped into applying for a non-existing loan. For example, requesting a RM10,000 loan but required to come up with one’s own money up to RM15,000,” he said.

Arjunaidi said the police seized, among others, RM57,170 in cash, seven vehicles, 72 cellphones, nine computers, 61 ATM cards believed to belong to borrowers and copies of the borrowers’ personal records during the raids.

He said 12 syndicate members had been charged in court on Friday and today and three more cases, namely, under the Kajang and Shah Alam district police headquarters had successfully obtained directives to charge the suspects.

Meanwhile, Arjunaidi confirmed receiving two reports on two separate incidents involving mistreatment of Covid-19 patients at the Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang.

"The Klang Selatan district police headquarters have confirmed that two police reports had been made on the incidents,” he said.

On the effort to detect cosmetics entrepreneur, Muhammad Sajjad Kamaruzzaman, more well-known as Nur Sajat, he said the police knew of his whereabouts but declined to comment further. — Bernama