A "Datuk" was among 18 people believed to be members of the 04 secret society were detained during a police operation in Penang on Oct 30 and 31.

Penang CID chief Zainol Samah said those who were detained in the operation against organised crime, included several gang leaders, aged between 23 and 54.

“One of them who claimed to have the ‘Datuk’ title was believed to be the leader of the 04 gang in the state... some of those detained were also leaders of the secret society which is active in the state.

“According to our investigations, they are involved in organised crime and violence, including causing serious injury, robbery, blackmailing, murder and drug trafficking,” he said in George Town today.

Zainol said all the men would be remanded for 28 days under Section 4 of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 for investigation.

He added that police were now hunting down 10 more members of the 04 gang, all of whom have been identified, and are between 17 and 35 years of age, and from Penang.

They are T Kalai Chelvan, 28; A Guganish, 36; K Sangaran, 35; Mohd Firdaus Mohd Abdul Rahim, 33; M Partiben, 29; S Surentheren, 30; G Guninteran, 23; M Nithiyanantham Naidu, 24; K Dineskumar, 21; and a 17-year-old youth, he said.

“They are urged to surrender themselves to the police and members of the public who have information about the 10 men can come forward to help investigations,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Zainol said police were tracking down three Indonesian men who are members of the Rantau gang involved in armed robberies in Penang since early this year.

He said they are Jamal, 54; Hasanuddin, 33; and Herman, 52; all from the East Java Islands.

“The Rantau gang is made up of four Indonesian men. One of them was detained while robbing a house in Sungai Ara, near here on Nov 4. In the incident at 3am, the victim’s neighbour caught wind of the crime and contacted the police. We arrested the man who is from Batam but the other three managed to escape,” he said.

Zainol said police confiscated jewellery and cash found with the man, believed to be taken from a house one day before his arrest. Investigations revealed that the man had three robbery records in Johor and has been imprisoned before.

From investigations, it was found that the four men were involved in at least 13 house break-ins in the Barat Daya and Timur Laut districts, involving more than RM500,000.

Zainol said they were believed to have legitimately entered the country through Johor before heading for Penang on a bus and living in the forest or hilly areas while committing robberies.

He said police believed the three Indonesians are still in the country and members of the public with information can contact the police.

- Bernama