Perak police chief Azizi Aris said the incident occurred at 3.10am when a police patrol conducting surveillance in the area spotted a man driving at high speed in a Nissan Almera car.

“When instructed to stop, the suspect sped up and fired several shots at the police vehicle. In self-defence, police returned fire, hitting the suspect.

“Upon further inspection, the suspect was found covered in blood and was pronounced dead at the scene by medics,” he told reporters at the Perak police headquarters here today.

Azizi said the suspect, a 43-year-old from Klang, Selangor, had 11 prior criminal records and was the mastermind of a gang involved in gold wholesaler robberies.

He said the gang was involved in at least 25 gold robbery cases in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Perak since 2018, with estimated total losses of RM34.2 million.

“The latest robbery committed by the gang occurred in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, on Aug 27, involving a loss of 4.5kg of gold, valued at RM1.485 million.

“Police are also tracking down the remaining members of the gang to prevent further crimes,” he said.

Azizi also said the car driven by the suspect was stolen in 2017 and had fake licence plates.