SEREMBAN– A total of 11 men were charged in the High Court here today with becoming members of a secret society named ‘Geng Kabali’.
All of them aged between 20 and 50 were charged with committing the offence at Batu 12 1/2 Jalan Rantau-Siliau in the Seremban district between Feb 1 and November 27, 2019.
Under the first charge all of them were tried under Section 130V of the Penal Code using the investigative and prosecution procedures under the Security Offences (Special Prevention Measures) Act (Sosma).
However, the prosecution offered an ‘alternative charge’ under Section 43 of Societies Act 1966.
When the first charge was read out by the court interpreter, all the accused pleaded not guilty and subsequently pleaded guilty for the second charge offered by the prosecution.
Judge Datuk Azizul Azmi Bin Adnan after listening to both submissions from prosecution and defence meted out 18 months sentence for 10 accused and meanwhile, S.Subramaniam got RM 3,000 fine who was under bail due to health reason.
However, Justice Azizul said the accused would not have to pay the fine as he had been under remand for 463 days.
Since all the 10 accused remanded for almost 3 years from the day they were arrested, automatically all the accused were given release.
The accused R. Kamal Rajh, S. Sivabalan,
R. Kunasekaran, R. Jeevanraj and S. Ilangovan were represented by lawyers
Muniandy Vestanathan, Gowri Subbaiyah and Muhammad Afiq Yahawa.
Meanwhile, lawyer James Thanjong Tuan represented S. Viven, K. Sarugunan, lawyer Sukhdev for L. Navinraj , lawyer Paul for T. Ravikumar, T. Kartik and lawyer Karthigesan Shanmugam for S. Subramaniam.
In November and December 2019, police arrested 19 members of the group for alleged involvement in at least 65 armed robberies in Negri Sembilan and the Klang Valley.
The suspects were arrested under Ops Kelawar for alleged involvement in organised crime.
Police believed they were responsible for 50 armed robberies in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, and 15 in Negri Sembilan, involving almost RM1mil.
