In the incident, Kota Kinabalu city police shot dead the armed suspect who fired three rounds at them following a high-speed chase near here.
The man, who was riding a motorcycle, sped off after being ordered to stop by police. The 10-minute chase ended when he crashed his motorcycle at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park in Sepanggar.
“We believe the gun was self-made, not manufactured by established gunmakers overseas,” said deputy Sabah police commissioner Razarudin Husain when contacted by FMT.
“We also believe the gun came from a neighbouring country and could have been used in other crimes here in Sabah and elsewhere.
“Our investigation is looking into these aspects now.”
Firearms smuggling has been a concern of late, with the Indonesian leader of an Islamic State (IS)-linked militant group jailed seven years on Monday over plans to smuggle weapons from southern Philippines.
Zainal Anshori, 43, who is head of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), was found guilty of the offence by a Jakarta court.
JAD is believed to be responsible for a number of terror plots in Indonesia, including a 2016 Jakarta attack that killed eight people.
Earlier this month, a twice-convicted Indonesian terrorist, linked to the slain Filipino IS leader responsible for the Marawi siege, was jailed 10 years by a Jakarta court, also for firearms smuggling.
Suryadi Mas’ud, 45, was found guilty of smuggling five pistols from southern Philippines to Indonesia, two of which were used in the same Jakarta attack.
He was also found guilty of trying to smuggle 12 semi-automatic rifles into Indonesia.
The court heard that Suryadi had met Isnilon Hapilon, the late IS leader and Abu Sayyaf commander, who agreed to help him smuggle the rifles in exchange for four new Indonesian terror recruits.
Isnilon was killed during an ambush by Philippine troops in Marawi last October.
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