ARAU, Sept 28 — In a frantic attempt to evade arrest, a car carrying four suspected cable thieves rammed into a police patrol vehicle, forcing the officers to open fire early this morning at the entrance to Taman Jejawi Permai.

Arau district police chief Supt Ahmad Mohsin Md Rodi said four officers from the state police’s D4 branch of the Criminal Investigation Department were on routine patrol at 4.20 am when they flagged down a suspicious Proton X70 carrying suspects, aged 20 to 34.

He said the suspects fled after being ordered to stop for an inspection.

"During their attempt to escape, they crashed into the patrol car, leaving the front of the vehicle severely damaged,” Ahmad Mohsin said at the Arau district police headquarters today.

Acting in self-defence, he said two of the four patrolmen fired five shots at the Proton X70, but no one was injured in the incident.

Ahmad Mohsin said the police managed to detain all four suspects and discovered equipment used in cable theft, along with a 150-metre-long cable bearing the name ‘Telekom Malaysia Berhad’.

Meanwhile, he said the police are on the lookout for two suspected accomplices of the four arrested, as they were spotted cruising in a Perodua Myvi approximately 40 to 50 metres from the scene during the incident.

Ahmad Mohsin checks revealed that two of the suspects had prior records for criminal and drug related offences

All the suspects have been remanded for four days starting today to assist in the investigation under Section 307 and Section 431A of the Penal Code. — Bernama