Neighbouring country alerted as police hunt KLIA shooting suspect

KUALA LUMPUR - Police have distributed the photographs of the suspect involved in the shooting incident at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 1 yesterday to all entry points in the north of the Peninsula and the authorities of a neighbouring country.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said instructions were issued the moment police identified the suspect involved in the incident which resulted in a bodyguard suffering serious injuries.

According to him, police have also tightened controls at "rat lanes” at the country's borders to prevent the suspect from fleeing to a neighbouring country.

He said police are now looking for Hafizul Harawi, 38, to assist in their investigations.

Razarudin also believes that the suspect is still in the country and efforts to track him down are being intensified.

"I have faith in the efficiency of my personnel. The suspect will be caught soon,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Elaborating, Razarudin said preliminary investigations also found that the suspect used a nine-millimetre semi-automatic pistol in the incident.

"Police retrieved three bullet casings at the scene of the incident, where one of them did not explode. We (the police) believe the suspect obtained the pistol from a neighbouring country,” he said.

In the incident, which occurred at about 1.30 am, the suspect fired two shots at his wife at the entrance of the arrival hall but missed, with one of the shots hitting her bodyguard. - BERNAMA