The police gunned down three of four robbers in a shootout at the Meru Raya traffic light junction in Jelapang, Ipoh yesterday, about 45 minutes after they pulled off a RM1.8 million jewellery heist, about three kilometres away.

Their accomplice who was injured in the leg in the incident, managed to give police the slip and escaped towards a nearby oil palm plantation.

Earlier, the four robbers were attempting to escape with the loot in a blue Proton Waja when the police were alerted.

The police despatched a 'Cantas Khas' team in a vehicle to track down the robbers who were later spotted speeding in the car at the Meru Raya roundabout.

In a chase that ensued, the Proton Waja skidded at a road-shoulder and came to a halt.

"One of the robbers fired a shot in the direction of the police team which was forced to return fire, killing three of them.

"Their accomplice managed to escape into a nearby oil palm plantation," said Perak police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, adding that a Star and Smith and Wesson firearms were seized from the dead men.

The police also found a machete, two mobile phones and almost all the jewellery which was robbed from the gems shop near Mydin Meru Raya at 10.20am, he said.

He said no identification document was found on the robbers.

The getaway car used by the robbers was reported missing in Bayan Baru, Penang on Oct 3.

Acryl Sani said there were five workers at the gems shop at the time of the three-minute heist.

Meanwhile in Kepala Batas, Penang, the inspector-general of police said there was no link between a gang of robbers killed in a shootout with the police in Ipoh and another which was shot dead by the police at the Sentul toll plaza on Wednesday.

Khalid Abu Bakar said based on earlier investigations, the three men who were shot dead in Jelapang, Ipoh were secret society members active in robbing goldsmith shops in Perak.

He said the police believed the group was involved in at least three such cases in the state.

"The robbers who were shot dead in Kuala Lumpur yesterday were members of a smash-and-grab gang which targeted people who emerged from banks.

"(Thus) the two gangs had no connection, whatsoever. However, further investigations are underway into the two (gangs)," he told reporters after visiting and making a contribution to Atiqah Mohd Rosdi, 29, the widow of police sergeant Zal-Azri Abdul Somad who was killed while on duty in Malacca recently, at her home in Taman Bertam Indah.

Selangor police gunned down three men during a shootout near the  Sentul toll plaza, more than three hours after they robbed a woman of RM2,000 outside a bank in Bayu Perdana, Klang.

- Bernama