THE high-tech anti-theft devices in his Mercedes-Benz were supposed to foil car thieves.

But that wasn?t enough to save the life of a a Malaysian limousine driver yesterday.

Mr Low Tek Chai, 46, was bashed to death in Kuala Lumpur by three men who became furious after their attempt to steal the vehicle was thwarted by the ?smart? car.

At 5.40am yesterday, Mr Low drove his limousine to a Jalan Gombak petrol station to pump petrol, reported the New Straits Times.

A Proton Perdana then stopped at the pump beside his.

Sentul deputy OCPD Supt Zainuddin Ahmad told reporters: ?Three men in their late 20s got out of the Proton.

?Suddenly, one of them attacked the victim repeatedly, causing him to bleed and fall to the ground.?

?The attacker then drove off with the victim?s dark blue Mercedes while the other two suspects fled in the Proton Perdana.?

STUCK

After about 50m, the limousine stopped, thanks to its anti-theft device, reported China Press.

The doors locked and the man inside had to smash a window screen to get out.

The men were unable to re-start the car because a special microchip and the car owner?s fingerprint were needed to do so.

DRAGGED HIM BACK

They then went back to the petrol station and dragged the near-unconscious Mr Low ? whom they had left lying in a pool of blood on the ground ? back to the Merc.

They tried to make him deactivate the anti-theft device, but they were unsuccessful.

Enraged, they started hitting MrLow again and carried on until he was dead, reported China Press.

They then pushed his body into the back seat and left.

Witnesses said that the entire incident took about three minutes and that no one had helped Mr Low because the robbers were armed.

Mr Low, who was married with three childern ? two sons and a daughter ? worked for a private firm driving people to and from KL International Airport.

His wife, with relatives by her side, was at the mortuary yesterday morning to identify his body.

She told China Press that her husband had left the house for work at about 5am and that she got a phone call about his death not long after.

Supt Zainuddin said that the police had closed-circuit TV recordings of the incident, but the footage was not clear.

He also said that the police had classified the case as murder and were investigating whether the motive was revenge.