SHAH ALAM: A group of seven foreigners have been arrested by the police after they stole almost RM2mil worth of diamond jewellery from a Hong Kong national at the KL International Airport.

In the incident at 6.35pm on July 18, two women – a Costa Rican and a Mexican – were caught on airport CCTV stealing a suitcase from the 53-year-old victim while she was busy at a counter.

The theft took less than a minute, with one suspect distracting the woman while the other took the suitcase, which was left on a trolley.

Police did not want to reveal what counter she was at when the theft occurred.

Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the victim was a jewellery company manager and had just arrived in Malaysia for a jewellery exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

“Don’t be careless, and practise personal safety habits. If you are carrying precious items, notify the police in advance. “In this case, the victim only realised her suitcase of valuables was missing after 18 minutes,” said DCP Tun Hisan at a press conference here on Saturday.

Upon receiving the report from the victim, police checked the airport CCTV recordings and coupled with intelligence reports, raided a condominium in Jalan Semantan.

“There are 3,000 CCTV cameras in KLIA. Not many know this (the number of cameras), security is tight at KLIA and we are watching (for criminals),” he said.

From the raid, police arrested two Colombian men, two Costa Rican men, one Ugandan woman as well as the two female suspects filmed on CCTV.

Of the four men, three tested positive for ganja.

The Colombians are father and son.

The younger Colombian is studying at a college in Kajang, while the Ugandan woman is enrolled in a college in Puchong.

The other five suspects are in the country on social visit passes.

“From the raid, we managed to recover the suitcase and its contents. The victim had already gone back to Hong Kong, and is flying in today (Saturday) to identify the items,” said DCP Tun Hisan.

He added that the same group was believed to be involved in theft of hospital equipment, and said investigations were ongoing.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/7/21/nation/20120721124323&sec=nation