Five robbers escaped with about RM2 million in a daring afternoon heist at an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in Universiti Malaya today.

The men, four of whom were armed with pistols while the other carried a pump gun, had robbed the money from four security guards who were in the process of loading it into the machine at about 1.45pm.

According to a Bernama report, Kuala Lumpur CID chief Ramli Din said the robbers had waylaid the security guards at the university's Kompleks Perdana Siswi. They even snatched a pump gun held by one of the guards.

"They then grabbed the bags containing the money and fired a shot at a nearby vehicle before making their getaway by using a back road at the university," he added.

Ramli said police believed the robbery is linked to a similar robbery where RM2 million was stolen from a Bumiputra Commerce Bank Berhad (BCBB) branch at the Faber Towers two months ago.

"This time they have gone too far. They have now hit a premier university in the country. This has become a very serious matter," he added.

He appealed to anyone with any information on the case to call the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters at 03-21460522 or the Rakan Cop hotline 03-21159999.

Sneak-in attempt foiled

In an unrelated development, a 42-year-old man was arrested following a failed attempt to sneak into Singapore illegally by swimming across the Strait of Johor.

The man, whose nationality was not disclosed by the Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), was arrested early yesterday after two auxiliary police officers spotted unusual movements around the bushes near Woodlands checkpoint at about 6.25am.

The officers hurried over to the spot and found a man loitering there and handed him over to the ICA for further investigations.

"When questioned by ICA, the man claimed that he had taken a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baharu. After sleeping at a bus stop in Johor Baharu, he decided to start his sneak-in attempt," ICA said in a statement, reported by Bernama .

The man claimed that he managed to leave the Johor Baru checkpoint by mingling in the crowd.

He then walked towards Singapore but somewhere in the middle of the Causeway, he dived into the water to swim towards the island.

A few minutes later, the man reached shore and that was when the two police officers spotted him.

ICA said that investigations were ongoing.

The penalty for illegal entry is a jail term up to six months plus a minimum of three strokes of the canning.