Gangs muscle in on renovation trade
The Sun 5/10/2004 By Kong See Hoh

Secret society members have adopted a tactic common in Hong Kong where triads prey on home owners who want to renovate their houses.

In several states, gangs are said to be gaining control of home renovation business, collecting "protection fees" from owners or forcing them to use certain contractors.

In a report yesterday, Nanyang Siang Pau said such cases are most rampant in Klang, but have also been reported in Serdang, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

The report said victims are mainly house owners in new residential estates where gangs literally stake their claim. The gangs get away with it as most owners, being new to an area, will give in to such demands to avoid trouble. More often than not, victims end up hiring contractors recommended by the thugs or pay a certain amount of so-called renovation protection fee to the gang.

Selangor CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Abu Bakar Mustafa identified the secret societies as Gang 18 and Gang 24.

The report said once a gang marks a territory, house owners who want to do up their homes before moving in must go through the gang, which will appoint its contractors.

If a house owner insists on hiring his own contractor, the gang will demand a cut of the renovation fee for "protection fee", which, in Klang, is about 10% of the cost of the renovation.

In Serdang, the report said, gangsters are engaged in veiled extortion by getting commissions for recommending certain renovation contractors to owners of new houses or shops.

The same form of extortion has also taken root in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.