Guns seized at home of Kayong murder suspect

MIRI: Sarawak police have seized a cache of high-powered firearms and hundreds of bullets from the house of a Datuk businessman in Miri, who is wanted for the murder of native land rights activist Bill Kayong.

Sarawak CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Dev Kumar said yesterday that a police team raided the Datuk’s house on the outskirts of Miri on Wednesday and seized the firearms.

SAC Kumar said some of the firearms were imported from abroad, including Europe.

“The police team involved in the Kayong murder probe led by ACP Abdul Razak Mohamed conducted a search in the house and seized the firearms, which were registered under the Datuk’s name.

“These firearms are not linked directly to the murder of Kayong, but we have seized all of them for security reasons since the suspect is still on the run in Australia.

“The firearms, which were discovered in a room, included a Glock pistol and a Ruger Ranch rifle .223 with the licences issued by the police.

“Five shotguns of various brands were seized as well, with the licences issued by the Miri district office.

“We also seized 416 rounds of 9mm bullets, a GFL Luger 9mm ammunition and 206 rounds of shotgun bullets of various brands,” said SAC Kumar.

In response to a question, he said preliminary investigations showed that the businessman had a licence to import firearms for his own collection.

Asked about the firearm used to kill Kayong, SAC Kumar said there was nothing in the police probe so far to show that it came from the Datuk’s firearm collection.

According to him, the police were working with Interpol in their bid to arrest the Datuk.

Kayong was the Miri PKR secretary and was actively involved in social and land rights cases in northern Sarawak.

He was shot dead mafia-style at a traffic intersection in front of the E Mart Commercial Centre in the Kuala Baram district, which is 15km north of Miri city, on June 21 at about 8.20am.

The suspect reportedly flew to Singapore on June 23 and then to Melbourne, Australia, on July 3.

He is one of two suspects still at large.

A third suspect surrendered at the Miri police station on Aug 18.