Suspect in RM600,000 bank heist may have struck before
At least one shopkeeper claims the same conman had stolen a handphone from his premises.
The news portal said a previous victim had stepped forward after seeing a report on the incident.
Zie Chong, a 33-year-old businessman who owns a shop in Bangsar, said the man visited his shop on Dec 4 last year and said he was carrying out pipework repairs nearby.
While inside the shop, the man stole a handphone, Zie told the news portal.
“He is a smooth-talking criminal. He was quite fluent in English and seemed like a local to me.”
Zie said the suspect was clad in the same blue T-shirt during the handphone theft.
Brickfields district police chief ACP Ruslan Khalid said police were hunting for the suspect.
“I can’t rule out an inside job in the bank case.”
The portal said police had identified three similar cases using the same modus operandi and possibly involving the same suspect.
In the bank case, the man had entered the bank claiming to be a fire extinguisher maintenance man.
Although the manager had told him to leave as he did not possess proper documents, he hung around and entered the safe room and carried away the money in a backpack.
He was wearing a T-shirt, Bermuda shorts and slippers at the time. He was in and out of the bank with the money in 20 minutes.
Reports said the man may have placed a magnet on the auto-lock latch of the door to the safe room to prevent it from locking after a cashier had walked into the vault earlier.
Conman walks away with RM600,000 after bank heist
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