Malaysia detains three individuals for allegedly providing firearms to Israeli man
Malaysian police reported on Saturday that three individuals have been apprehended on suspicion of providing firearms to a 36-year-old man with an Israeli passport. The man was recently detained at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, and authorities are investigating the case further.
During a press conference on Friday, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain revealed that a man was apprehended at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The individual had arrived from the United Arab Emirates on March 12 with a bag containing six handguns and 200 bullets, allegedly using a suspected fake French passport.
After being questioned by the police, the suspect handed over an Israeli passport, as revealed by Razarudin. The individual, who has chosen to remain unidentified, was reported to have purchased the weapons after his arrival in Malaysia, paying for them with cryptocurrency.
The Israeli embassy in Singapore did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Malaysia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.
Police did not rule out the possibility that the man could be a member of Israeli intelligence, though the suspect told authorities he had entered Malaysia to hunt down another Israeli citizen due to a family dispute.
“We do not fully trust this narrative as we suspect there may be another agenda,” Razarudin said, adding that the man had stayed at several hotels while in Malaysia.
Three Malaysians, including a married couple, were arrested on Friday and have been remanded for seven days on suspicion of supplying weapons and acting as a driver to the Israeli suspect, Razarudin told Reuters on Saturday.
A pistol was retrieved from a car belonging to the couple, he said.
Authorities have been put on high alert following the man’s arrest, with security beefed up for Malaysia’s king, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other high-level figures.
Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and has condemned Israel’s military onslaught in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 32,705 Palestinians as of Saturday. Malaysia is also home to around 600 Palestinian refugees, according to the UN refugee agency.
In 2018, a Palestinian scientist was shot dead in the Malaysian capital by two unidentified men in a killing that Hamas suggested was carried out by Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. Israel denied the allegations.
