Married Couple Arrested For Suspected Loansharking

IPOH, April 1 (Bernama) -- A married couple suspected of being the masterminds of a loansharking operation, were arrested by the police for distributing cards promoting unlicensed moneylending business and online gambling at a Ramadan bazaar at the grounds of the Ipoh Stadium early this morning.

The suspects, both locals in their 50s, were arrested by a team from the Perak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department at around 12.45 am at their residence in Sitiawan, Perak police chief Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said.

“We seized mobile phones, notebooks listing borrowers, a car, 120 cards promoting online gambling and unlicensed loans.

"The suspects admitted to going to the Ramadan bazaar with two other local men, both persons with disabilities, who they hired with payments of RM30, and that they had been conducting unlicensed money lending by imposing high interest rates, including daily payments.

“Inspection of the notebooks revealed that 90 per cent of their borrowers were locals in Manjung district and the couple had gone to the bazaar to expand their business,” he said in a statement here today, adding that the couple had been running their operation since two years ago.

He said that the police were tracking two other suspects to facilitate investigations under Section 4(1)(g) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 and Section 5(2) of the Moneylenders Act 1951.

A video of a man distributing cards promoting unlicensed loans and online gambling at the bazaar stalls had gone viral earlier.

-- BERNAMA