Picture via The Times of Israel.
KUALA LUMPUR: Another alleged motive has surfaced in the case of an Israeli man caught with six guns and 200 bullets in the city.
An online news agency covering Middle East issues reported that the man, allegedly a mobster, could have flown into Malaysia over a dispute with a rival gang.
Just days after the suspect was caught with six guns and 200 bullets, the suspect was identified by several Hebrew-language news outlets as Shalom Avitan.
The 36-year-old was reported by The Times of Israel to be an associate of the Musli brothers crime family.
Avitan was reported by Mako, an Israel's news and entertainment portal, to be in Malaysia to assassinate the head of a rival crime family named, Eran Haya.
The two rival families have been entwined in a violent feud for several months.
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According to an Israeli free-to-air television channel - Channel 12 - Avitan's home, in Bavli, an upscale neighbourhood in Tel Aviv, was the target of several grenade attacks by Haya's men in mid-March, around when Haya was believed to have entered Malaysia, as reported by Times of Israel.
Checks on X (formerly known as Twitter) revealed that X user, @Lembayungsyahdu posted a picture of Avitan's Israeli and French biodata pages.
A mugshot of Avitan believed to have been taken by law enforcement was also posted together with the passport biodata pages.
It was reported that a local married couple has been detained for allegedly supplying firearms to the Israeli man who was detained at a hotel in Jalan Ampang.
The couple, aged 42 and 40, were nabbed at a Ramadan bazaar in Kuala Selangor at about 7.15pm on Friday (March 29).
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The suspects then led police to their home in Kuala Selangor, where police seized another pistol kept in a sling bag.
Sources said the couple's main task was to supply the Israeli man with firearms and other logistical needs. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain had said security in the country will be heightened following the arrest of the Israeli.
He said the suspect told police during the course of interrogation that he came to Malaysia to assassinate a fellow Israeli over a family dispute but police are not taking any chances.
“With the situation in Palestine and Israel we need to be cautious about the security of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as well as other dignitaries,” he told reporters at Masjid Al-Amin at the General Operations Force Central Brigade headquarters on Friday.
