Jamal continues to frustrate police, evades dragnet

Fugitive Jamal Md Yunos continues to frustrate police as efforts to arrest him have thus far proven to be unsuccessful.

Selangor CID chief Fadzil Ahmat said Jamal failed to turn up at the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday where polls for the party wings were taking place.

Jamal is looking to both defend his position as Sungai Besar Umno head and run for the party Youth chief.

"We are still looking for him and we want to carry out the warrant of arrest that is out for him. Once we get him, we will arrest him.

"(Was he) at Umno (headquarters)? No.

“If he was, we would have caught him long ago. We are frustrated, and will search for him until we find him," he said to Malaysiakini.

Fadzil also appealed for more information on Jamal’s whereabouts, assuring that the controversial figure will be apprehended without delay when he is located.

Jamal in the country?

The senior officer was also questioned on Jamal's claim that he is still in the country and had not fled to Indonesia, as previously believed.

"He says all sorts of things, (that) he is in Malaysia, out of Malaysia...

"On that (if Jamal is still in the country), I will not comment as it is the subject of investigations. Why would we want to declare (what we know)?

“All I can say is that we want to catch him, wherever he may be," he said.

Jamal has been on the lam for a month after fleeing from a hospital in Ampang during an out-of-court bail proceeding for a criminal charge.

The charge is over a demonstration at the Selangor secretariat building in Shah Alam, during which he took a sledgehammer to beer bottles to protest against a beer festival.

He refuses to return to turn himself into authorities, claiming that he fears for his safety as the Pakatan Harapan government was out to "get" him.

Despite being a wanted man, Jamal declared that he would be running for Umno Youth chief, and that he would turn himself in if he won. - Mkini