KANGAR:The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) will set up a special taskforce to facilitate the extradition of three Thai suspects involved in a shootout with members of the Malaysian General Operations Force (GOF) at the Malaysia-Thailand border last week (Nov 24).

Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Huzir Mohamed said the three suspects which included the main mastermind behind the incident were being sought to continue the investigations here (Malaysia).

"We really need the three suspects to get more information regarding the incident, and they are believed to be under detention in Southern Thailand," he told reporters here today.

In the early morning incident on Nov 24, GOF personnel Sergeant Baharuddin Ramli, 54, was killed while his friend Sergeant Norihan Tari, 39, was seriously injured after a shootout with a group of smugglers, about 600m from the TS9 control post in Padang Besar.

"We will get in touch and hold discussions with the Attorney General's Chambers, the Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok and the Royal Thai Police to continue with the investigation," he said.

Earlier, Huzir had held a closed-door meeting with the Perlis Police Contingent led by its chief Datuk Surina Saad to discuss the matter.

He said 22 suspects had so far been detained by PDRM, and the case was being investigated under Sections 302 and 307 of the Penal Code for murder and attempted murder.

Meanwhile, Surina said 15 local suspects who were previously arrested by the contingent would be handed over to the Kedah police to assist with investigations into the shooting incident in Bukit Kayu Hitam on Nov 25 as well as several other cases.

A day after the shooting incident in Padang Besar, a GOF personnel who was on duty at the M16 post in Bukit Kayu Hitam was injured in the abdomen after he was believed to have been shot at with an air rifle from the other side of the border.

-- BERNAMA