2 held over murder of man at petrol station in Johor

JOHOR BAHRU: The police have arrested a man and a woman to assist in the investigation into the murder of a man here last Sunday over a dispute between secret societies.

Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said in a statement yesterday that the duo, one of them aged 19 and the other 22, were picked up at 2.30am yesterday by a police special squad.

He also said that since the murder, many false and irrelevant information had been issued by certain quarters, raising anxiety in the community.

This also hampered police investigation that was focused on arresting the suspects and bringing them to justice, he said.

Mohd Khalil warned that these offenders could be prosecuted under Section 505 of the Penal Code on making statements conducing to public mischief, which provided for a jail sentence of two years or a fine or both, upon conviction.

Last Sunday, a man in his 30s was stabbed and knocked down and run over by a car twice by four men at a petrol station in Taman Pelangi here.

The murder took place when the man, who was with a foreign woman in her 20s believed to be his wife, was inflating the tyres of his car.

The four men also tried to drag the man into their car but he managed to break free but was knocked down by the car and run over twice.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday that the murder was the result of a dispute and territorial control by two secret societies and that the police were hot on the heels of the assailants. — Bernama