SUBANG JAYA, MALAYSIA - Five wanted men escaped despite being ambushed and shot at about a dozen times by a police team who had trailed them.

The five men are wanted for a spate of armed robberies and vehicle thefts committed in Klang and the Klang Valley area last month and earlier this week.

This shooting incident is the third within 24 hours.

Police shot dead four men said to be members of the notorious Mamak Gang in Shah Alam on Tuesday, while two more wanted men died in a shootout with police in Bukit Kayu Hitam along the North-South Expressway.

In this latest incident, Subang Jaya police chief Asst Comm Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar said a police team from the district headquarters trailed a grey Honda City reported to be stolen two days ago in Klang.

He said the police team followed the car from Pusat Bandar Puchong to Puchong Hartamas in the 12.30pm incident yesterday.

ACP Zainal Rashid said the driver of the stolen car alighted from the vehicle and walked towards an apartment block on a hill.

After several minutes, he reappeared with four men, also in their 20s, and they got into the car.

As they were reversing their car, they were blocked by two unmarked police vehicles.

'The suspects, ignoring repeated warnings to surrender, kept ramming the police cars in their bid to escape. Despite being shot at at least a dozen times, the five suspects managed to plough through the two cars and speed off from the scene,' ACP Zainal Rashid said, adding that police have identified the five suspects and hope to arrest them soon.

In another case, ACP Zainal Rashid said police had arrested three members of a luxury car theft syndicate and seized five cars worth about RM1.5mil ($627,450) from them.

The trio, in their 30s, were nabbed late last month after a task force from the district police headquarters raided a bungalow in Sungai Buloh.

'Police seized a Mini Cooper that was reported stolen on Aug 23 in Pusat Bandar Puchong and a BMW 5 Series. A Nissan Elgrand and a Proton Perdana V6 belonging to the suspects were also seized,' said ACP Zainal Rashid, adding that follow-up investigations led to the recovery of another stolen BMW 5 Series. -- The Star