Five held in connection with murder of businessperson

 

Five individuals, including two women, were arrested last week around Ampang and Kajang, believed to be involved in the murder of a health clinic chain owner whose body was found inside a luggage bag in a ravine in Hulu Langat.

Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said the suspects were aged between 22 and 40, including a man in his late 30s who was the main suspect in the case.

Police also seized 12 mobile phones, including one belonging to the victim.

He said that based on preliminary investigations, it was found that the 41-year-old male victim was driving to meet the main suspect, who is a contractor at a restaurant in Semenyih, at about 11 am on April 26.

“The victim then sent a short message service (SMS) to his housemate asking to deposit the company's money, amounting to RM228,000, into an unknown account.

“Also receiving the SMS was the accountant of the victim's company, who was also ordered to do a similar act. However, he did not do as asked as he felt something was amiss before the victim's mobile phone failed to be contacted,” he said at a press conference at the Selangor police contingent headquarters (IPK), today.

He said police received a report from the victim's 36-year-old housemate and a member of the victim's family regarding the incident.

“Based on the evidence, the main suspect confessed to planning and killing the victim before his body was dumped in a ravine in a remote area in Hulu Langat and the post-mortem revealed that the cause of death was due to strangulation.

Hussein said the victim and the main suspect had known each other for the past year after repairing the victim’s clinic and house.

“The motive behind the incident was to get the victim's money, as the suspect was believed to have financial problems paying lawyers for drug-related cases. The suspect also managed to get RM20,000 from the victim,” he said.

According to him, the case which was initially investigated according to Section 385 of the Penal Code, was reclassified as a murder case and investigated according to Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, he said that the police arrested six men, aged between 21 and 38, who were believed to have stolen eight boxes of electronic chips worth RM1.5 million from a logistics company's warehouse at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Sepang Cargo hub last month.

Hussein said the case also involved two employees of the company who stole eight boxes of chips, at 4.30 am, on April 21.

He said the arrest of all suspects in KLIA, Sungai Pelek and Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, was carried out as a result of a complaint by the warehouse manager who informed that the premises had been broken into and the electronic chips went missing.

“Four of them have confessed to the crime. All suspects are now being investigated under Section 380 of the Penal Code,” he said.

- Bernama