GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia: A 65-year-old jewellery shop owner cheated death when a robber's pistol jammed during a robbery at Komtar.

To Teoh Kim Beng's relief, nothing happened except that he heard only a click when the robber aimed the pistol at his forehead and pulled the trigger at point blank range.

His wife Ong Bee Choo, also 65, said the pistol must have jammed or the robber forgot to load the firearm.

"Two robbers, who looked like Vietnamese, entered the shop posing as customers at 12.55pm. They suddenly whipped out a pistol each while talking and ordered us to unlock the glass displays.

"We then squatted down but my husband tried to get up as his legs had become numb. One of the robbers then lost his temper and pulled the trigger but the pistol failed to fire," she said when met at the scene.

Ong said they then scooped up five trays of jewellery worth more than RM200,000 ($84,100) before speeding off in a motorcycle parked nearby.

He said that the two robbers were in the shop a few days earlier to check out the premises.

Security guard Azmi Rejab said the robbers pointed their pistols at him when he approached them while walking past the shop, adding that he then ran for his life.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said said the investigating officer would scrutinise the footage from several closed-circuit television cameras around Komtar with the hope of identifying the robbers. -The Star / Asia News Network