KUALA LUMPUR: Discrepancies in a police report lodged following a robbery led to a group of foreigners being detained after police located part of the alleged stolen money in their house.

       Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Beh Eng Lai said that originally, eight foreigners had been robbed on July 14 at a shophouse near the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market.

       One victim was injured during the robbery after being attacked with a machete.

       “The report lodged stated that losses were around RM50,000. However, during the course of the investigation, one of the victims told the police that losses were around RM100,005,” he said.

       The money stolen were profits from sales of a frozen fish and vegetable business which the victims work at.

       “Normally, they will keep the profits for a few days and give it to the owners then,” he said in a press conference on Saturday (July 17).

       Investigations into the robbery led to the arrest of five local men within 24 hours of the incident.

       However, only around RM11,000 of the stolen money were found during the arrests.

       Items used during the robbery were also seized, including two fake guns.

       “After noting some conflicting statements by the victims, another raid was conducted and we located RM40,000 at the home of the victims. All the robbery suspects and seven of the victims in this case have been remanded,” he said.

       ACP Beh said that it was possible that the victims took advantage of the robbery for their own gain.

       “Investigations are still ongoing. For the time being, we are investigating them for lodging a fake report.

       On the robbery suspects, ACP Beh said that four of them had prior police records.

       All detained have been remanded until July 21.