KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian police on Wednesday (Jan 3) said they have identified the prime suspect in the brutal murder of an alleged gang leader at a Johor Baru petrol station last month.

Johor police chief Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the suspect, in his 20s, was among three people currently under police custody.

“Initial investigations showed that one of the three suspects on remand is the prime suspect in the case,” Star Online quoted Johor police chief Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd as saying.

He said all the three suspects were also found to have conducted robberies in the Kulai and Batu Pahat districts.

“We are going to submit the investigation papers on the murder and the robbery cases to the deputy public prosecutor’s office soon,” he said.

However, Mr Khalil said the knife used in stabbing the victim had yet to be found.

“We believe the knife had been disposed of somewhere along the Desaru to Kota Tinggi road,” he said.

A total 14 people were detained by the police since the Dec 17 incident, including seven who were arrested in Singapore. Eleven of them have since been released.

In the incident, four perpetrators were recorded on video to have stabbed and run over Tan Aik Chai at a Shell petrol station in Taman Pelangi.

Tan had just parked his Volkswagen Polo at the petrol station and was inflating his car’s tyres when he was stopped by several men in a white BMW 520d.

One of the suspects had tried to pull the 44-year-old victim into their car but the latter put up a fight.

Eyewitnesses then saw the men assaulting Tan and stabbing him with a sharp object, which caused him to collapse on the compound of the petrol station.

After Tan was stabbed, the suspects threw an explosive device, believed to be a firecracker, at him before re-entering their vehicle.

They then ran over his body twice before fleeing the scene.

Tan subsequently died due to head and body injuries.

Video footage of the brutal murder has been circulated on social media and prompted an outcry from Malaysians.

Malaysian Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said a dispute over a drug deal between two triads was behind the murder, adding that Tan is believed to have been the leader of a secret society.

He was known in the underworld circles as “Ah Chiu” and believed to have conflicts with several members of a Johor Baru-based rival drug gang.

Police also said Tan, who was born in Malacca and had a listed address at Simpang Renggam, Johor, had a long list of drug-related offences over the past 13 years with 18 cases.

Police also have recovered the BMW vehicle, which was found abandoned at an oil palm plantation in the Pontian district. AGENCIES