KOTA BARU, July 19 — Police have arrested three brothers on suspicion of being involved in gang robberies using an axe and a knife in Melor.

Kota Baru district police chief ACP Mohd Rosdi Daud said the trio, aged 19 to 36, were detained separately on July 17, with two of them nabbed at 8.15pm on the roadside in Kampung Sri Kulim and the other shortly after in front of a mobile phone shop near Melor.

He said the suspects were arrested by a team from the Kota Baru district police headquarters after receiving three reports of robberies of mobile phone shops that had occurred in the district since last Saturday.

"Checks found that two of them have multiple criminal and drug convictions. Two of the three suspects tested positive for drugs in initial tests,” he said in a statement here today.

The suspects have been remanded for five days under Sections 395 and 397 of the Penal Code. — Bernama