Perak police gunned down three robbers in a shootout in Kampung Buruk Bakul in Perak early Sunday morning, nearly two hours after they robbed an elderly couple in a housebreaking incident.

Earlier the robbers were attempting to escape with the loot when the police were alerted.

The police dispacted a ‘Cantas Khas’ team to track down the robbers who were later spotted speeding in Kampung Serapoh near Parit.

In a chase that ensued, the robbers fired two shots in the direction of the police team which was forced to return fire, killing all three of them.

“These robbers are dangerous because all the housebreaking cases reported in the Manjung area had used the same modus operandi. The robbers would hold a weapon to the neck of their victims. Following this shootout we have successfully solved 15 housebreaking cases reported around the Manjung and Perak Tengah districts,” said Perak CID chief Datuk Mohd Dzuraidi Ibrahim, adding that a Smith and Wesson pistol was seized from the dead men.

The police also found several machetes, live rounds, a knife, several housebreaking tools and the items stolen from the elderly couple in the car that the suspects were driving in which was also reported stolen.

Mohd Dzuraidi said no identification documents were found on the suspects but initial investigations revealed the suspects are foreign nationals.

The suspects' bodies have been sent to Hospital Ipoh for a post mortem and identification purposes.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar on his Twitter page congratulation the quick action of the Ops Cantas team adding all the items robbed from the elderly couple have been returned.