KUALA LUMPUR: The five foreign men who attacked officers from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in Banting near here were desperate to leave the country illegally.
They were among a group attempting to flee Malaysia when an MMEA patrol team spotted them in the waters of Tanjung Rhu on Friday morning.
During the incident, four people were injured while another was killed after they were shot for attacking MMEA officers.
Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said police are tracking down the others who were on the boat with the five men.
“We believe 10 to 15 people are still at large and we are investigating if they are armed,” he said, adding that the group was either involved in crime or did not have valid documents.
He said three injured suspects were warded at Hospital Sultan Idris Shah in Serdang and another at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang.
All of them were placed under strict police custody, he added.
Relating the incident on Friday, Comm Hussein said the group had rammed their fibreglass boat against the MMEA vessel four times before two of the men, armed with machetes, attempted to attack the officers.
In self-defence, the MMEA officers fired at the boat, but the suspects managed to escape, he said.
Hours later, a medical officer from Hospital Sultan Idris Shah lodged a report about three foreign men with gunshot wounds being sent there for treatment at 7.30am.
Two of them were in wet clothes and another was wearing only boxers. All three did not have identification documents on them, sources said.
Less than two hours later, a member of the public reported discovering two injured men on a boat stranded some 0.4 nautical miles off Pulau Carey in Banting.
Selangor MMEA director Maritime Capt Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh said a MERS 999 call was made and medical personnel from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah gave initial treatment to the men.
“One of them died at the location while the other was sent to the hospital. Both men did not have identification documents and we suspect they are Indonesians,” he said.
He said Selangor police are conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.
“We will not compromise in taking action to wipe out criminal activities in our waters,” he added.
Comm Hussein said the detained suspects were being investigated for attempted murder under Section 307 of the Penal Code and Section 186 of the same code for impeding public officers from carrying out their duties.
“We are also investigating under Section 39 of the Firearms Act 1960,” he added.
