Five men believed to be Vietnamese were killed in a shoot-out on Saturday in northern Malaysia after they staged an armed robbery, police said. Wira Ayub Yaakob, Penang state police chief said the shooting happened when the five, along with three other suspects, were making their escape in two cars after robbing 11 Vietnamese factory workers.
The suspected robbers opened fire after police stopped their getaway car, Wira Ayub said, hitting the rear windscreen of the police patrol car. "The policemen, in defence, fired several shots at the car and killed the five men in it," he was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
"A pistol, a live bullet, two ski masks, 11 machetes, a metal cutter and a crow bar were found in the car," he added. The police chief said officers had in recent weeks launched a crackdown in the area on foreign criminals, especially Vietnamese, who might have lost their jobs due to the global economic downturn.