PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A Malaysia gang 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 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 on Wednesday night (June 7), Petaling Jaya district police officer Asst Comm Mohd Zani Che Din said.

The group has been branded the Susu Kangkang Gang because of their modus operandi. "The gang is so named because they hide the baby formula under their clothes, in between their legs," he told a press conference on Friday.

He said the women would enter the shops pretending to be pregnant while the men acted as lookouts.

In the operation, police retrieved 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 had 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, police said they went back to stealing baby formula from supermarkets again.

Police added that the group had even grown bolder and did not hesitate to use violence in their operation.

In one incident on May 20, ACP Mohd Zani said one of the members slashed a hypermarket security guard in Kelana Jaya with a knife while they fled with the baby formula hidden underneath their clothes.