Police make formal request to Macau to detain Jho Low

Police have made a formal request to their counterparts in Macau to help arrest fugitive businessperson Jho Low.

Low, who is being sought by police to facilitate investigations into the 1MDB scandal, is said to have fled to Macau as soon as a team of Malaysian police arrived in Hong Kong.

Inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said they are now waiting for a response from the Macau police.

"We have yet to deploy our team to Macau as we are waiting for our counterparts to respond (to our request)," he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Fuzi added that police had previously sought official request through Interpol's red notice from six countries to locate and arrest Low, including China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Indonesia, India, Myanmar, and UAE.

They had also sought assistance from Taiwan as the country is absent from the Interpol organisation.

Previously, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying that Hong Kong police had no obligation to arrest Low as there was no official request made.

“Hong Kong police have no obligation to arrest, even if he is on an Interpol red notice.

"The only obligation is if there is an accompanying formal request from the originating country, which there wasn't," the source was quoted as saying.

It reported that Low had been living with his family at an upscale apartment, occupying multiple rooms at the Pacific Place Apartments, located in Admiralty, Hong Kong.

IGP: Musa Aman still in the UK

Meanwhile, Fuzi said police are still waiting for their UK counterparts to update them on fugitive former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman.

"He is still in the UK. We are waiting for our UK counterparts to respond before we can send our police team there,” he added.

After disappearing on May 14, Musa issued a statement from the UK on Tuesday and denied that he was on the run.

He said he was seeking medical treatment abroad, among other reasons for his absence.

Last month, police had applied for Interpol to issue a red notice for the former chief minister. -Mkini