Geng 24: Nine more students held

Nine more students from three schools in Klang, Selangor were detained yesterday as they were believed to be involved in the ''Geng 24'' secret society activities.

Selangor police chief Datuk Mohd Fuad Abdul Latiff said the students were picked up from different schools following the arrest of 18 students and five other individuals earlier yesterday in an operation by Bukit Aman CID.

He said they comprised six form six students, two form four students and one form one student aged between 13 and 17.

"All students have been questioned on their motives and involvement with the gang.

"So far, we have not been able to ascertain their motives but we found there was cake and cake cutting which we believe was to celebrate the establishment or anniversary of something," he told reporters after attending the PDRM-AirAsia Fun Run in conjunction with the 210th Police Day at AirAsia RedQ here today.

Fuad said as an illegal organisation, the spread of Geng 24 needed to be contained quickly more so when it involved school students.

In the effort to curb such activities, he said police were now focusing on four schools in Klang to check the development of such unhealthy trend.

"However, we are confident the proliferation of such activities in schools was not initiated by students but by outside leaders seeking to recruit new members and to set up a gang in school," he said.

Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar in his Twitter account was quoted as saying all 18 individuals were detained by the Special Task Force on Organised Crimes (STAFOC) and said more would be apprehended for being involved in Geng 24.

In the same Tweet, Khalid also uploaded two video clips which showed a group of individuals including students in school uniform gathering in front of a school while the group created a ruckus by letting off firecrackers and unfurling a banner with the number 24 apart from cutting a cake with wordings ''SMK Sri Andalas 24 Apache''.

Khalid also confirmed police had detected the involvement of students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sri Andalas, SMK Raja Mahadi, SMK Shahbandar and SM Kampung Jawa in gang activities.

-- BERNAMA