JOHOR BARU, June 5 — Malaysian police have built up a strong case against a fugitive gang leader abroad who is wanted for masterminding the savage murder of a fellow gang member that was captured on video and went viral on the internet last December.
Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has been enlisted to extradite the suspected “architect” of the killing from Thailand, where he was arrested last month, for charges to be arraigned against him.
“The extradition process involves Interpol, Bukit Aman, the Johor police and also our Thai counterparts,” he told Malay Mail when contacted today.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, police sources said investigations showed the 36-year-old suspect had planned the assassination of Tan Aik Chai, a moneylender better known by his nickname “Ah Chiu”, at the Taman Pelangi petrol station here on December 17 last year.
“Investigations revealed the extent of the suspect’s involvement in planning the murder, from the victim’s car seemingly ‘innocent’ tyre puncture that needed him to stop at the petrol station in Taman Pelangi where he was set upon.
“Despite the suspect’s alleged detailed planning, the gang members fumbled the murder of the 44-year-old fellow gang member as it was done in the open and attracted a lot of public attention,” one source said.
Tan was pummelled, stabbed and run over twice by several men in a white BMW 5-series at the petrol station in full view witnesses who were rooted to the spot by the brutality of the assault in the 7.30pm incident on December 17.
Police later nabbed 14 individuals, including a few who were teenagers, to facilitate investigations into the murder, with 11 of them subsequently released.
According to the source, the men who executed the killing were amateurs who left a trail of evidence in their bid to escape that enabled the police to track them down and tie up to the now crippled Gang 360.
“Police managed to track the suspects based on their Gang 360 allegiance, the infamous white BMW car used, to their activities several nights before the murders and also via their mobile phone signals.
“From our initial interrogation and probes, the main suspect was linked as being the “mastermind” who ordered the attack-cum-murder as revenge for a money debt owed,” said the source.
Another source, familiar with gang activities, said man in Thailand was known to be one of the Gang 360 leaders.
“Investigators have built a profile and checks showed that the fugitive suspect has previous records for gang violence, fighting and also linked to the drug trade,” said the second source, adding that the suspect fled to Thailand with his wife days after the murder to avoid the large-scale police operation mounted in the aftermath of the petrol station attack.
The suspected mastermind, described to sport a large tattoo of Jesus Christ on his right arm, was apprehended by a team of Thai police officers in Chaiyaphum province, about 260km northeast of Bangkok, Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama reported on May 29.
His arrest puts an end to a massive crossborder manhunt mounted by police from Malaysia and Thailand that covered several thousand kilometres over half a year.
