KUALA LUMPUR – Eight more individuals, three of them non-citizens, have been arrested in connection with the Israeli man who bought weapons after arriving in Malaysia, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said.
They were detained in Johor and Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and Friday, the IGP confirmed to Scoop.
None of the eight hold Israeli passports, and the three non-citizens include two Turkish nationals and one citizen of Georgia.
One of the Turkish nationals also holds a US and a Polish passport, Razarudin added.
“The eight are facilitating investigations into how the Israeli was able to enter Malaysia and how he procured the weapons,” he said.
The eight are under remand for a week.
With their arrests, police have nabbed 16 individuals so far, including the Israeli, in a joint operation involving Bukit Aman’s criminal investigation department, the Kuala Lumpur contingent’s CID, the commercial crime investigation department and the Special Branch.
Razarudin would not disclose whether the five locals detained were public officers involved in border control.
Previously, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said there was nothing untoward in the Israeli man’s entry into Malaysia, as he had used a French passport.
Bernama meanwhile, reported that the two Turkish nationals were aged 29 and 40, while the Georgian was 39-years-old.
It is also believed that cryptocurrency was used to purchase the firearms.
On Thursday, Razarudin said three men and one woman had been arrested in Skudai and Gelang Patah, Johor, to aid in the ongoing investigation into an Israeli man who was arrested in a hotel on Jalan Ampang, here, with six types of firearms.
The Israeli is identified as 38-year-old Shalom Avitan, who allegedly procured the firearms from a Malaysian husband and wife couple for RM10,000 a piece.
The couple, aged 42 and 40, have been arrested and are believed to have smuggled the firearms in from Thailand, where Avitan had been before his arrival in Malaysia on March 12.
The weapons seized during Avitan’s arrest on March 27 include a Glock, Smith & Wesson, Sig Sauer and Stoeger, as well as hundreds of bullets.
Avitan had entered using a French passport, but upon further questioning had surrendered his Israeli passport.
Foreign media have reported that he is an associate of the Musli brothers crime family, a notorious Jewish mob syndicate, and is said to have been en route to assassinate the head of a rival gang. – April 6, 2024