M'SIAN POLICE SHOOT TWO SUSPECTED INDONESIAN HITMEN

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 6 (ANTARA) - Malaysian police have shot to death two Indonesians suspected of being professional assassins in a shootout with them on Wednesday (Nov 5).
The two Indonesians , identified as Mat Shaari and Andi, were believed to have killed a few other Indonesians on orders from fellow countrymen.
"Their criminal activity has caused great anxiety among East Javanese in Malaysia because their victims were from East Java or Madura," said Khairudin Harahap, director of Indonesian Sociology Research, here Thursday.
The killings were commmitted because the victims had failed to pay debts or to eliminate rivals in competitions to win women's favors, he said.
"For 5,000, 3,000 or 7,000 ringgit they were prepared to kill fellow Indonesians from East Java or Madura living in Malaysia," Harahap said.
"They usually put an X sign on their victim's houses. They are part of many East Javanese goons who often wage gang wars and harm Indonesians in Malaysia," he said.
The gangs also operate gambling dens in areas where many workers from East Java and Madura live. In the past, they carried sickles, now they have fire arms.
Harahap made the statements in comment on Malaysian media reports about the shooting to death of the two Indonesians by Malaysian police at Kampung Tengah, Puchong, on Wednesday at around 12.20 pm local time.
According to the Selangor police chief, the two Indonesians were riding on a motorbike along a river into which police suspected they had just dumped a dead body. Police asked them to pull over but they ignored the order, and fired three shots at the police. The police answered the fire and killed both of them on the spot.
On their dead bodies, police found a 9mm automatic Smith and Wesson gun, six rounds of ammunition and two machetes.