Suspect in Customs officer’s death flees
KOTA BARU: The suspect believed to be involved in the death of a female Customs and Excise enforcement officer has escaped to Thailand.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the police would seek the help of Thai police to trace the man, in his thirties, and his accomplices who are also on the run.
“We know who they are,” Noor Rashid told reporters after visiting the state police contingent yesterday.
Anisa Ali, 54, who was on duty with two male colleagues last Friday, was killed in a car chase with suspected smugglers at Kampung Banggol Chicha in Pasir Mas.
They were in hot pursuit of two vans suspected of being laden with smuggled cigarettes.
In mid-chase, a third car – a four wheel-drive driven by a tonto working for the smugglers – appeared and violently rammed the Customs vehicle from the rear, causing it to skid and crash into a tree along the roadside.
Anisah was admitted to Pasir Mas hospital before she was referred to Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital.
She later succumbed to her injuries. The case is being investigated for murder.
In Malacca, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed admitted it was difficult to stop smuggling activities along the country’s borders due to what he alleged as some enforcement officers in cahoots with the smugglers.
“We can stop security breach along our borders if we severe ties between the smugglers and tontos with some of our enforcement officers,” he said after opening the Seventh ICCE-ASCAD International Conference on Drug Addiction at a leading hotel.
Nur Jazlan said the Government was also considering a plan to erect walls along the porous borders to eliminate smuggling activities.