Sources told New Sunday Times that Eran, 40, was among those detained by police in operations conducted in Kuala Lumpur and Johor on April 4 and 5.

Eran, who is a citizen of both Turkey and the US, also holds a Polish passport which he used to enter Malaysia in February.

The sources revealed that an embassy contacted the police to locate and protect Eran after claims emerged that he was the target of an assassination attempt by the 38-year-old Israeli.

On Tuesday, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain had said the police had been unable to verify Eran’s existence.

Razarudin was responding to a report by The Times of Israel, which identified the Israeli man captured last month as Shalom Avitan, an associate of the Musli brothers crime family in Israel.

According to the report, Avitan came to Malaysia to assassinate Eran, who is purportedly the leader of a rival criminal group.

The report said that both groups had engaged in violent conflicts for several months, and Avitan’s residence in Tel Aviv was targeted in a grenade attack by associates of Eran in mid-March.

Israeli media reports previously indicated that Eran is the son of Eitan Haya, the head of a criminal organisation in the country. Eitan was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Tel Aviv court in 2016.

On Friday, Razarudin said the police had arrested 12 more people in connection with Avitan. In total, the police have arrested 15 people connected with the Israeli.