Eighty skinheads and punks have been arrested in a crackdown after a gang attacked and robbed a 13-year-old student, police said today.

"We have a special team to nab them. It is quite a big group. Next week we are going to launch another operation in the city," said Kuala Lumpur district police chief Kamal Pasha Jamal.

Kamal told AFP that most of the skinheads were ethnic Malay youths and many had gone "underground" since the crackdown launched on Saturday.

The Star newspaper said skinheads and punks had been involved in a series of robberies, snatch thefts and extortions since early this year.

In the latest incident on Saturday, the student was cornered by one gang which robbed him of his handphone and some cash.

We'll hunt them down

Police immediately launched a blitz on the gang and arrested 80 people, including eight women, in the city centre. Two were from the group that attacked the student and 11 tested positive for drugs, the report said.

Kamal said the groups, whose members are clad in black with heavy black boots laced in different colours according to their gang affiliation, had also been involved in fights with foreigners, including tourists.

"Such groups are becoming more violent and bold. We will hunt them down and arrest them," he told The Star.

While skinheads in western countries often espouse racist beliefs, the gangs in multicultural Malaysia are not known to have any ethnic agenda.