Gang caught stealing baby formula from supermarkets in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA • A gang in Malaysia has been stealing baby formula from supermarkets by having the group's female members pretend to be pregnant and making them smuggle the milk cans under their clothes, police said.

Four members of the so-called Susu Kangkang Gang ("milk between crotch" gang) - two men and two women aged between 25 and 49 - were caught in the act at a supermarket in Dataran Sunway in Petaling Jaya last Wednesday evening, said district police officer Mohd Zani Che Din.

"The gang is so named because they hide the baby formula under their clothes, in between their legs," he told a press conference last Friday. He added that the supposedly pregnant women would enter the shops while the men acted as lookouts.

The police caught the gang with 21 cans and 17 boxes of baby formula. "The stolen items would be resold to smaller shops in neighbourhoods where the residents are mostly illegal immigrants," he said.

The group made headlines last year when they were arrested in Kajang for the same crime. But even a stint in prison could not wean the gang members off their ways.

After their release at the end of last year, the police said they went back to stealing baby formula from supermarkets again.

The police added that the group had grown bolder and did not hesitate to use violence.

In one incident, on May 20, Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zani said one of the members used a knife to slash a security guard at a hypermarket in Kelana Jaya, while the other gang members fled with the infant formula.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 11, 2017, with the headline Gang caught stealing baby formula from supermarkets in Malaysia. Subscribe