Rampant Armed Robbery in Johor Bahru, Malaysia | Limsimi.com

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Rampant Armed Robbery in Supermart, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

January 10th, 2009 stephen.wong

Safety and Security in Johor Bahru
In Johor Bahru, we are used to snatch thefts and the occasional burglary (see our post here).

What happened in Pasir Gudang last Thursday however, still got us shaking our heads in disbelief, in disappointment and helplessness.

What Happened:
At Taman Air Baru (a 25minutes drive from Johor Bahru City Square), a group of robbers numbering around 30 (30!!), unloaded from motorcycles and stormed into Jiason Supermarket. In a well coordinated operation, they went to the cashier and demanded money. As they were armed with parangs and short knives, the cashiers were helpless and quickly emptied the cash to the robbers.

Some “spare” robbers proceeded to the 2 nearby mobile phone shops. The shop owners were in shock and quickly passed their cash and the day’s taking to the robbers. The glass panels displaying the mobile phones were smashed and the mobile phones dispossessed from the shop owners.

Recollected one of the customers who was shopping for a new mobile phone:
“When I saw the robbers at the mobile phone shop, I quickly run to the nearby super mart for safety. When I reached the entrance of Jiason, I saw that the supermarket is also full of the robbers as well. @#$@#!”

In all, the operation took a grand total of 1 minute. While escaping, one of the robbers was left behind and angry passer-bys starts to attack him. Realising that one of their comrades was missing, the robbers quickly made a U-Turn and by brandishing their parang to the attackers, they fended off the attacks and rescued their friend-in-crime. Witnesses compared these action scenes to those found in Hollywood movies. Loud screechings from motorcycles and scooters, and the robbers making their eventual escape.

In all, about RM$30,000 worth of cash and mobile phones were lost, together with the confidence in the Malaysian police.

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Entry Filed under: Crime and Safety

7 Comments Add your own

1. YH Ng | January 10th, 2009 at 12:22 PM

I go into jb frequently. these cases of robbery are not unheard of actually. Will not deter me from going in but sometimes, hearing these stories makes me quite piss with the safety in jb. rob an entire supermarket? the police should quickly catch the criminals, since there are so many of them.

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2. rizar | January 10th, 2009 at 4:15 PM

this is work of some young teenagers. very brave to rob a supermaket

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3. Tham | January 12th, 2009 at 1:17 PM

Doubt this kind of incident will be likely to happen in Johor Bahru city itself. There are more crowd and definitely more police area the region.

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4. stud | February 5th, 2009 at 12:15 AM

Only stupid sinkies will go into JB and buy a home there or even shop there ..

It’s amazing the jb govt is so stupid.. crimes happening in his state and he also donno how to enforce the security.. it’s been decades.. sigh..

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5. Felix Ta | February 5th, 2009 at 12:57 AM

No doubt, it is not as safe as Singapore. Just need to be careful and stay away from deserted places and you can still find your JB trip fun.

-Avid Golfer who makes frequent trips to JB

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6. facaichu | December 10th, 2009 at 7:07 PM

go jb must be careful aids robber strike yesterday i went to esso to pump my tyres 2 man 1 tall & 1 short with beard claim tthat they are aids patient needs some help by holding a slop of needle with blood in it relunctly i dig out some notes he ttold mehe is not a begger & ask for more i dig out another 40++ he say some more with the needle closer & the tall guy demand for my wallet i got furious & give him a glance the short guy say just 1last note & u are free to go i pull out another 50 and they let me go wat a damn luck losing 100 ringgit for nothing that esso pump station is beside a shell station next to it near by theres a giant leisure and the oppsite theres a market whereby a happenings occured on sunday by my friends with 2 couple having dinner they park the car thought that is only at the side of the market with so many people so a lady left the bag inthe car the other left a handphone in it within half an hour that car was break in with all items lost poor girl waited 12hrs to come back sg warning to all pls be careful either go with a bunch of bro or stand by sommthing in your car for emergency i learnt my lesson i will go there again to try finding themthis time lastly dun leave things that can be view.

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7. admin | December 14th, 2009 at 12:05 AM

Hi Facaichu, your comments are worrying because I know that the petrol stations you mentioned are usually very crowded.

I pump petrol every weekend and will always keep a lookout everytime I get out/in of the car. Car doors are locked immediately my car door shuts. I leave nothing valuable visible in the car – everything is in the trunk so that I do not tempt a robbery, even a NTUC plastic bag that contains just a copy of the Straits Times.

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