KUALA LUMPUR – A group of men has been charged on Wednesday over the alleged murder of a Malaysian national in New South Wales, Australia in 2020.
The three men aged 22, 28 and 33 have been arrested and charged over the past week following search warrants issued in western Sydney houses.
According to local news reports, police launched an investigation last June to probe into the manufacturing and supplying of prohibited drugs by a criminal syndicate, but they uncovered information about the disappearance of ‘Jacky’ Chong Kai Wong in 2020 instead.
Police allege that the 24-year-old was involved in the syndicate when he died.
In a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, police said Wong was apparently in Australia on holiday.
But he was possibly working as a crop-sitter for a Southeast Asian syndicate cultivating commercial amounts of marijuana on a rural property 40km from Bathurst.
The authorities said Wong stayed at the property and took care of 500 to 1,000 marijuana plants.
Meanwhile, according to news.com.au, Wong had been in Sydney since 2016 and last spoke to his Malaysia-based family on December 28, 2020.
After his disappearance, it is alleged one of the suspects Junqi Huang made attempts to extort money from Wong’s family by offering information about the latter’s whereabouts in exchange for money.
However, the police said Wong’s family based in Malaysia refused to pay and are “enormously upset” about his alleged murder.
Detective Superintendent John Watson said his officers are “convinced the murder took place at the property” in Killongbutta, north-west of Bathurst, which they allege was used as a cannabis cultivation farm.
“It is alleged it was a brutal murder that took place in Killongbutta.
“The circumstances of his death are particularly gruesome, and officers remain at the Killongbutta property today (Wednesday) in search of his body and to locate any further forensic evidence,” Watson said.
So far, efforts by the police, forensic technicians, and detectives to recover Wong’s remains have been futile, with police issuing a public appeal to find him last week.
“An extensive ground search remains ongoing, we expect to discover more in the coming days and weeks,” said Watson.
On Wednesday, the search resumed and it is expected to continue through the rest of the week. – The Vibes, April 1, 2022
