Contractors shot dead, payroll gone
NUSAJAYA: Two contractors of an infrastructure project in Iskandar Malaysia were shot dead by robbers in a secluded area at Jalan Felcra Tebing Runtuh yesterday.
A security guard said he heard five shots being fired before seeing two men speeding off in a car with two bags, believed to have been taken from the contractors' four-wheel drive vehicle.
It is believed that the bags contained several hundred thousand ringgit because yesterday was pay day for the workers.
Nusajaya police chief Superintendent Aziz Ahmad said the security guard saw the two men in a car intercepting the vehicle driven by the contractors at 3.30pm.
"The robbers alighted and walked calmly towards the contractors. One of them headed towards the driver's side and the other to the front passenger.
"One of the robbers pulled out the passenger and fired several shots while his accomplice shot the driver, who was a manager in a construction company, with a single shot to the head," he said.
Both the 43-year-old manager and the 39-year-old contractor died on the spot.
The robbers then sped off towards Lima Kedai.
A police team arrived later on receiving information that a burning car was spotted in Lima Kedai.
It is learnt that it was the same car used in the robbery-cum-murder. Witnesses at Gelang Patah said two men alighted from the car before setting it ablaze. The duo were then picked up by two men in another car.
Aziz, who withheld the identities of the victims as their family members have yet to be informed, said initial investigations revealed that the motive behind the murder was robbery.
"We believe the robbers had pre-planned to get rid of evidence by setting the car on fire.
"We are not ruling out other possibilities as it is too coincidental for the robbers to know that the victims were carrying a large amount of money," he said at the scene.
"The route is very new and only a small number of vehicles ply it. Those who use this route normally work in the construction sites nearby."