Kuala Lumpur airport hit by gold bar robbery

Kuala Lumpur airport hit by gold bar robbery

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Seven robbers made off with 12 gold bars from Malaysia's troubled Kuala Lumpur International Airport and an angry Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday planes might start disappearing soon.

The robbery on Wednesday was the second gold-bar theft this year at the airport, still recovering from a fire that destroyed its air traffic control radar on Aug. 13.

Police said seven men disguised as policemen made off with the gold from the cargo warehouse in a pre-dawn robbery.

Assistant Police Commissioner Hanif Ahmad said the gold bars were part of a 20-bar consignment flown in from Australia on Tuesday.

Hanif said the robbers drove in and overpowered five guards, stealing the gold bars from a padlocked room. The gold was destined for banks.

He estimated the 303 kilograms of gold bars, wrapped in sugar sacks, to be worth seven million ringgit (US$2.7 million). Aviation officials had earlier estimated the value at 12 million ringgit ($4.7 million).

"It was a well-planned job but we are narrowing down the possible suspects," he told reporters, saying 15 workers and security guards were questioned and released.

On April 13, 25 gold bars worth 820,000 ringgit ($320,000) were found missing from a 300-bar consignment.

Mahathir told reporters yesterday that people at the airport were not doing their jobs properly. "Before too long, a plane can go missing," the national news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.

Another fire hit the airport on Wednesday but Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik said yesterday it did little damage.

Security guards raised the alarm after spotting smoke belching from air conditioning ducts in an international departure lounge.

Ling said arson was suspected. "The person who caused the fire could be an anti-national element or was just being naughty," he told reporters.

A fire on Aug. 13, the third major blaze in the last two years at the airport, has reduced takeoffs and landings, causing flight delays of up to several hours.