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- The first arrested suspect leading investigators to a bush behind his house in Sematan where the murder weapon and shotgun cartridges were recovered.
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- The recovered shotgun believed to be the murder weapon.
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- The ammunition found with the shotgun.
KUCHING: Police have solved the murder of a Balai Ringin man, who died in June after being shot in Bau while purportedly buying black pepper, following the arrest of three men and the recovery of the weapon used in the killing.
State police commissioner Datuk Mazlan Mansor said the near-simultaneous arrests were made in the wee hours of Tuesday morning at three separate locations following weeks of meticulous investigation by a taskforce led by state CID chief SAC Dev Kumar.
“The first suspect, a 40-year-old man, was arrested by a state D9 team led by ASP Francis Boniface Barau at Taman Dahlia in Matang at 4.30am.
“This was followed by the arrest of the second suspect, a 42-year-old man, by another D9 team led by ASP Lawrence Rawieng at Taman Samajaya at 4.35am,” said Mazlan in a statement yesterday, adding the second suspect was found hiding in the ceiling of his flat at the time of the raid.
The third suspect, a 42-year-old man, was arrested by a state D8 team led by ASP Shuib Abdul Samat at Kampung Tabuan Melayu here.
All three suspects have since been remanded for seven days beginning Tuesday to facilitate further investigation.
Mazlan further disclosed that the first suspect led the investigation team to his house at Kampung Selarat in Sematan, Lundu, around 2.15pm yesterday where the shotgun – believed to have been used to shoot the victim – was recovered in a bush along with eight shotgun cartridges.
Police now consider the case as solved with the arrest of the three and recovery of the murder weapon, and have also established a motive for the killing.
“We have established the motive but are unable to divulge further details at this stage so as not to jeopardise the investigation,” he said.
The state police commissioner went on to congratulate Dev Kumar and his taskforce members for solving the case and bringing closure to the family of the deceased, adding state police have successfully solved all three murder-by-shotgun cases that occurred this year in Sibu, Miri and now Bau.
In the Bau case, the 36-year-old victim and a friend had travelled by lorry from Serian to Kampung Jugan to purportedly purchase black pepper on June 21.
As they were driving along a secluded dirt track towards a pepper farm, the victim was suddenly shot in the head by an unknown person, prompting the friend to immediately take over the wheel of the lorry and head to the Bau Hospital.
Following initial treatment, the victim was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at Sarawak General Hospital here where he died the following day, resulting in police reclassifying the case from Section 307 of the Penal Code, for attempted murder, to Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.