Police have detained a male teacher who is also a board of director for a get-rich-quick scheme company early Friday.

The 46-year-old suspect was nabbed as he was preparing to slip out of the country.

Bukit Aman Commercial CID director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the suspect from Kok Lanas, Kelantan, who was still teaching in the state was picked up about 1am in a raid at a condominium in Sri Hartamas here.

The teacher was detained when he was hiding in one of the rooms, he said, adding that the man was in the midst of leaving the country.

"The operations on this group began five months ago. The male teacher is the 16th suspect (we have) detained in connection with the scam they operated," he told Bernama here Friday.

He said the arrest was in accordance with Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) 1959.

"The operations are still ongoing to trace 15 other individuals for their involvement in the scam. The group has conned 500,000 people nationwide and in Brunei, with a transaction of almost RM50 million," said Acryl Sani.

Some of the 'investors' had incurred losses of between tens of thousands and millions of ringgit, he said.

On July 25, the police picked up 15 people, including two men with 'Datuk' titles, behind the investment scams in a series of raids in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Melaka, Pahang, Kelantan and Penang.