Mar 30, 2024
Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country and has been a steadfast supporter of Palestine. It has no formal relations with Israel and in December, the country banned all Israeli ships from docking at Malaysian ports.
Police in Malaysia arrested an Israeli man suspected to be a member of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, on Friday.
The man, identified by as 36-year-old Shalom Avitan, according to some media reports, was reportedly arrested in Kuala Lumpur at a local hotel. Authorities say he had six handguns, three of which were loaded, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition. Avitan reportedly gave the authorities a fake French passport but surrendered his Israeli passport during questioning.
The suspect reportedly said that he was there to hunt another Israeli citizen, and the Israeli media has reported that Avitan was a member of the Musli crime family who was attempting to assassinate another crime family’s leader.
“We do not fully trust this narrative as we suspect that there may be another agenda,” the Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said at a press conference late Friday night. Razarudin added that they do not believe the suspect was working alone and said they were probing the possibility that the suspect has links to the Mossad.
On Saturday, three Malaysian nationals, including a married couple, were arrested under suspicion of helping the Israeli suspect. The couple is accused of providing the alleged agent with weapons, while the third Malaysian is under investigation for acting as the suspect’s driver.
A pistol was found in the vehicle of the couple, authorities say they suspect they brought weapons from a neighboring country. They noted that the suspect came in from the United Arab Emirates where border security is tight. Cryptocurrency was involved in the purchase of the weapons, the Malaysian authorities said.
In response to the Israeli suspect’s arrest, security measures have been stepped up for Malaysia’s king, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as well as other top officials.
The Mossad has long been suspected of operating in Malaysia. In 2018, a Gaza-born electrical engineer was gunned down by two motorcyclists suspected of being linked to the Mossad. In 2022, a man was kidnapped in Malaysia, allegedly as part of a Mossad plot.
While legal gun ownership is possible in Malaysia, it is limited to citizens and requires every weapon to be licensed. The country also has some of the strictest punishments in the world for firearm violations. The suspect is being investigated under the Passport Act of 1966 and the Firearms Act for unlicensed possession of weapons. If charged and found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.
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