Hilmi: VX nerve agent never found in Malaysia

Deputy health minister says it is difficult to detect the nerve agent if brought into the country in small amounts.

PUTRAJAYA: The VX nerve agent found on the face of North Korean Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered in Malaysia on Feb 13, had never been found in Malaysia before, Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya said today.

He said the VX nerve agent is a chemical weapon that could paralyse the nervous system and anyone in contact with it could die in half an hour due to breathing failure.

He said it was difficult to detect the nerve agent if brought into the country in small amounts.

“This is the first time we have come across VX. We never had any VX in the country before, and only knew about it through reading,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on empowering Malay traditional medicine here today.

Last Friday, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said that the chemical “Ethyl S-2-Diisopropylaminoethyl Methylphonothiolate”, or VX nerve agent, was used in Jong Nam’s murder.

Jong Nam was at the low-cost carrier airport, klia2, on Feb 13 to board a flight to Macau when two women suddenly appeared before him and wiped his face with a cloth that contained a poisonous liquid.

Jong Nam sought help at a customer service counter at the airport and was rushed to the Putrajaya Hospital but died on the way.

He had come to Malaysia on Feb 6 and carried a passport bearing the name Kim Chol. -FMT