KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Police have obtained a warrant to arrest Umno division chief Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos who absconded before he was granted bail and now believed to have fled the country.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Fuzi Harun said his agency has given ample time for the Umno leader to voluntarily surrender, and was now taking steps to locate and capture him.

“Police applied for an arrest warrant against [Jamal] over an offence under Section 224 of the Penal Code, which is fleeing from lawful arrest,” he said in a statement.

He added that a magistrate in Ampang issued the warrant today.

Advertisement

Fuzi also urged members of the public with information on Jamal’s whereabouts to contact the police.

Jamal went missing from the Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital last Friday before the completion of bail proceedings over a public nuisance charge.

He later claimed he did not abscond and the entire episode was a “misunderstanding”.

Advertisement

Jamal later offered to meet police on Wednesday, but failed to show up at the Ampang Jaya district police headquarters as promised.

He instead released a video clip of himself in an oil palm plantation in which he claimed to be a "victim" of alleged hidden hands plotting his downfall.

Sin Chew Daily cited sources as saying the Umno leader has since fled to the port town of Tanjung Balai Karimun of the Karimun island in the Riau Islands province in Indonesia.

Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday ordered Malaysian police to seek assistance from their Indonesian counterparts to locate and capture Jamal.

Jamal is known for his controversial antics and protests, and is also the self-styled leader of the so-called “Red Shirts” movement.