JOHOR BARU: Six months after a man was gunned down at a restaurant in Taman Setia Indah here, police have arrested a foreign national to help with its investigation.
Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Raub Selamat confirmed the latest arrest where a 65-year-old man was arrested at around 4.30pm on Tuesday (July 15) evening.
“Police have made a latest arrest pertaining to the murder of a man at Taman Setia Indah, which took place on Jan 8 earlier this year.
“The suspect was arrested around the city centre here and we are investigating his involvement in the murder case,” he said here on Wednesday (July 16).
ACP Raub added the suspect was under remand until next Tuesday (July 22) to assist with the investigation.
He also said that the nine suspects that the police have arrested during a series of raids in March following the murder have been released following instructions from the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s office.
ACP Raub however declined to elaborate further on the matter as the case was an ongoing investigation.
On March 27, police believed that revenge could have been the motive for the shooting murder of a man.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk M. Kumar said the murder was linked to tensions between rival secret societies.
“There is an element of secret societies in this case. We also believe that revenge is the motive behind the murder,” he said.
The 40-year-old victim was shot at close range by an unidentified male who arrived at the premises on a motorcycle.
“Investigations into the deceased found four bullet wounds and a post-mortem confirmed the cause of his death was due to gunshot wound to the chest,” Comm Kumar recounted.
Following the incident, police set up a special task force team, involving Bukit Aman personnel, to investigate the case and find the perpetrators.
“On March 8, at around 3.10am, police shot dead a 64-year-old man, who we believe is a suspect in the murder case, following a shoot-out along Jalan Persiaran Bumi Hijau at Taman Molek here.
“At the scene, police found a Smith & Wesson pistol, four live bullets and two bullet casings. On the same day, between 5am and 6am, police arrested six male suspects, aged between 48 and 66 years old, during a raid at a house along Jalan Ah Siang here,” he said.
Comm Kumar added that during the arrests, police also seized a transparent packet and three straws filled with drugs believed to be heroin, a piece of aluminium foil to consume the drug, a digital weight scale device and an air pistol.
“Police then carried out another operation on March 17 between 9.45am and 1pm, which led to the arrest of three more male suspects aged between 36 and 62 years old along Jalan Bukit Meldrum here.
“The special task force team seized a semi-automatic Sig Sauer pistol, one cartridge case with six bullets and another cartridge case with nine bullets,” he said.
Comm Kumar also said investigations found that the bullets and casings discovered at the murder site in Taman Setia Indah matched one of the firearms seized in the operation.
