Malaysia Crime Watch

2 February 2009
Shah Alam

A 20-year-old student who was kidnapped on 25 January 2009 was found murdered at an oil palm plantation in Sua Betong yesterday. Plantation workers found the body at 7am along the Port Dickson-Pasir Panjang road.

The victim, from Bukit Rimau, had slash wounds on his face and shoulder and his neck was almost severed.

Police believe that a suspect was involved in the kidnapping and have yet to determine if the suspect was also involved in the murder.

The suspect had called the victim’s father a day after the victim was kidnapped, asking for a RM100,000 ransom. The suspect later agreed to lower the amount to RM15,000. The father was then instructed to board a train from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban. When the train arrived at the Seremban station, he was told to remain in the train. As the train went through Rahang New Village, Senawang, the suspect told the father to throw the bag of money out of the train’s window.

The victim was never released and the father had not heard from the suspect after that.

Police have re-classified the case as kidnap-cum-murder.

The Star Online – Kidnap victim found killed
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/2/nation/3174288&sec=nation>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, shah alam, bukit rimau, murder, kidnap, death, sua betong, rahang new village, senawang

24 January 2009
Klang

In the force’s biggest drug seizure for two years in the state, Selangor narcotics police arrested two Indian nationals and three Malaysians on Thursday night. 119.3kg of ketamine worth RM3.5 million were seized.

That night, state narcotics officers and their Klang counterparts arrested three men at a petrol kiosk in Taman Melawis when they were waiting for a customer. The suspects led officers to a warehouse that stores salt in Kampung Delek, Teluk Pulai, where they seized 100kg of ketamine. The drugs had been stored in small 1kg packets and then put into 10kg bags labelled as free flow salt. The drug packets were had their expiry date labels removed to indicate that they were different from the salt ones.

The police were later led to a shoplot apartment in Simpang Empat, Teluk Pulai, where they found another 19.3kg of ketamine and arrested two Indian nationals who were suspected of smuggling the drugs in.

It is believed that they had been smuggling such drugs from Tuticorin, Kerala, for the past one year.

Police will be conducting a joint investigation with their Indian counterparts to examine the smuggling route between the two countries.

The Star Online – Cops probe ketamine pipelines
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/24/nation/3112395&sec=nation>

New Straits Times Online – RM3.5m ketamine seized, 5 arrested in raid
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2462345/Article/index_html>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, klang, teluk pulai, taman melawis, simpang empat, kampung delek, drug, ketamine, smuggling, india, tuticorin, kerala

24 January 2009
Kuala Lumpur

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail has directed police to classify the death of suspected car thief A. Kugan as murder after he met Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and viewed photographs of Kugan’s body. The photos were taken by the police and some members of the public at the Serdang mortuary.

While previously Kugan’s case was under Section 330 of the Penal Code which indicates voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession, it has now been classified under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

22-year-old Kugan was arrested for suspected to be involved in several luxury car theft cases. During the two-week remand at the Taipan police station in USJ, Subang Jaya, he collapsed and died on Tuesday. Kugan had led police to recover 13 luxury cars which were about to be exported.

As for the mob which stormed into the mortuary on Tuesday night, forced hospital staff out and locked themselves in for two hours, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan condemned such actions. The mob is believed to have taken photos of Kugan’s body, showing physical bruises all over.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah was also informed of the case re-classification by Abdul Gani and that the police would investigate the case thoroughly and bring the culprits to court as early as next week. Murugiah also had his police statement taken as he was present at the mortuary on Tuesday.

Kugan’s family had decided to send his body on Wednesday to the University Malaya Medical Centre a second post-mortem to be performed by an independent doctor. Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said they had to seek a court order to allow for the post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Abu Bakar said that 11 constables and lance corporals have been removed from their positions at the same police station where Kugan died and had their statements taken. They have since been re-assigned to desk duties at the contingent headquarters.

The Star Online – A-G asks police to classify case as murder
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/24/nation/3112245&sec=nation>

New Straits Times Online – Kugan’s death now classified as murder
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/Frontpage/2462288/Article/index_html>

New Straits Times Online – Kugan Murder: 11 police personnel assigned to desk duty
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/Frontpage/2462289/Article/index_html>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, kuala lumpur, murder, kugan, serdang mortuary, voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession, post mortem