KUALA LUMPUR: A pattern has emerged from the three attacks on national football players, says Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain.
He said police had noticed that the attacks occurred at two-day intervals.
"Our investigations also showed that the players involved were tailed prior to the attacks.
"The perpetrators also worked in pairs in all the attacks," he told reporters on Wednesday (May 8).
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He said based on the attacks, it looked like there were preparations made beforehand.
"Akhyar Rashid was the first victim on Thursday (May 2) night followed by the Faisal Halim case which occurred on Sunday (May 5) and the third case involved Safiq Rahim which occurred in Johor Baru on (Tuesday, May 7)," he said.
Comm Shuhaily said it was too early, however, for police to say if these cases were all connected.
"We have made two arrests so far in connection with the Faisal Halim case.
"One suspect has already been released while the other suspect is still under remand.
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"The investigations are ongoing and we have yet to establish if the suspect in custody is involved in this case," he said.
On why the Bukit Aman CID Special Investigation Unit took over the probe, Comm Shuhaily said this was so that the investigation efforts into all three cases could be coordinated.
"The three cases occurred in three different states – Terengganu, Selangor and Johor.
"Seeing that the cases all occurred in (different) states, we decided that Bukit Aman should coordinate the probes," he said.
Comm Shuhaily added that police were also looking at the possibility that a poison pen letter concerning the Football Association Of Malaysia (FAM) last month could be connected to these cases.
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It was reported that the poison pen letter criticised FAM's leadership and management, as well as the recent unsatisfactory performances of the national senior and under-23 squads.
On the suspect currently under remand, Comm Shuhaily said the suspect has seven prior offences on his record.
"Our checks revealed the suspect is self-employed and has a record for misuse of network facilities, voluntarily causing hurt using a dangerous weapon, gang robbery, impersonating a civil servant, criminal intimidation, and extortion," he said.
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