The arrest of the 36-year-old Malaysian and his wife, at a house in the compound of a temple in the province had brought an end to a manhunt mounted by the Malaysian and Thai police to arrest one of the most wanted men in Malaysia.
“When the Thai policemen confronted him, he pleaded innocence and tried in vain to get away,” a source who has intimate knowledge of the operation to nab the wanted Malaysian said.
Speaking in Thai, the Johor-born suspect who sported a large Jesus Christ tattoo on his right arm claimed he was nowhere near the murder scene on the night of Dec 17 last year
The man also said he had documents to back up his claim, said the source who declined to be identified.
Police, however, were not convinced.
On Dec 17, a suspected triad member known as ‘Ah Chiu’ was repeatedly stabbed at the petrol station before he was mowed down by a man driving a white BMW car. The murder was also caught on closed-circuit television camera and the recording went viral on social media.
Since the murder, the Malaysian police had arrested several individuals for questioning and in January this year, two suspects were charged with the crime.
Since escaping to Thailand last December, the alleged mastermind had apparently embraced a spiritual life and became a Buddhist monk at the temple.
However, the source said this could be a cover to hide his true identity.
Meanwhile, another source told Bernama that the alleged mastermind had maintained his innocence by saying he did not have a reason to kill the victim.
“He (alleged mastermind) claimed that the man owed him about RM140,000, so there was no reason for him to see him dead,” he said.
Currently, the suspect and his wife are waiting to be extradited to Malaysia.
Despite the arrest of the alleged mastermind, Bernama was made to understand that the Thai police were continuing their hunt for another Malaysian suspect linked to the Taman Pelangi murder case.
The man, who is married to a Thai woman, was believed to have fled to Thailand to escape prosecution by the Malaysian authorities.