KANGAR – The Royal Malaysian Police have requested for their Thai counterparts to hand over the four Thai nationals wanted in the shootout at the border wall in Padang Besar that resulted in the death of a 54-year-old General Operations Force corporal.
Perlis police chief Datuk Surina Saad said she has conveyed the matter to the Songkhla police chief and he pledged to discuss the matter with Thailand’s top cop.
“I made the request at noon and he promised to make arrangements and come back to me with the decision,” she told a press conference at the state police headquarters here today.
She said GOF’s Corporal Norihan Tari, 39, underwent emergency surgery at Kangar Hospital and was transferred to the Penang Hospital to undergo another surgery to remove three bullet slugs – one lodged in his lungs and another two in his abdomen near his spine.
His squad mate Corporal Baharuddin Ramli, 54, was killed in the 3.10am shootout with two groups of smugglers.
“In our operation today, we arrested another suspect, a 27-year-old Malaysian of Siamese descent at the crime scene. He was found in the nearby ravine. In our follow-up operations, we have also identified the two injured suspects that we captured.”
Surina said one of the two groups of smugglers had six people and the other had seven – all Thai nationals.
She added that the suspect who was arrested today has identified the other six suspects in his group, including the two who had been admitted to hospital in Haadyai.
The groups were believed to be smuggling ketum leaves and cough mixtures, and were carrying firearms and knives.
Police have also obtained a remand order to detain three Thai nationals and 15 Malaysians in connection with the shootout.
The suspects were kept at the district police headquarters here before they were brought to the magistrate court at about 9.30am today.
The court approved a seven-day remand order for the Thai nationals and four days for the Malaysians to assist the police in their investigations.
They are being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries a mandatory death sentence for culpable homicide and Section 307 of the same Act for attempted murder.
Baharuddin was conducting intelligence work around 3am when he and Norihan stumbled upon movement in the area.
Several shots then rang out, including ones that fatally hit Baharuddin and severely wounded Norihan.
Nearby GOF members returned fire, but the perpetrators had managed to slip back into Thailand under the cover of darkness.
Elite police commando unit (VAT69) members, who were immediately deployed to enhance security checks, have discovered one of the wounded suspects in the area while three more were nabbed by the Thai police at a hospital in Haadyai, Songkhla. – The Vibes, November 25, 2020
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