KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association (PPIM) has urged the government to amend existing consumer laws to act against rampant scratch-and-win syndicates.

Its executive secretary, Datuk Nadzim Johan, said existing consumer laws appeared ineffective in handling the syndicates.

"While waiting for new laws to be legislated, we may discuss with the home ministry to use the Emergency Ordinance as there are no other laws to prosecute them," he said at a news conference here on Friday.

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HOTEL 1 (MAY 27)

A sequence of A woman and a man believed to be Latin American went in a coffee shop and made off with valuables including a purse which victims left on their tables while they went to get the food from the buffet counter during breakfast time. They were all smartly dressed and walked out of the hotel coolly minutes later.

LATIN American syndicates have struck again and they are getting bolder. Smartly dressed, they easily pass off as hotel guests or tour agents.

Six hotels in the city have been targetted with the latest reported on July 15, though it is still unclear whether this is a single group or several acting with the same mode of operation.

Hoteliers are now deeply concerned with the number of incidents that have occurred since May.

IT was a "family business" of distributing drugs in the Cheras area for an 18-year-old and her two uncles, a 30-year-old close relative and a 28-year-old (believed distantly related by marriage). The latter was found to have a 'long-time record in criminal acitivities.

THEY were gym buddies and trained together occasionally. But they also shared a darker activity - buying and selling guns.