Suspect in robbery, murder of former Mardi director identified based on facial recognition

KUALA LUMPUR:A suspect involved in the robbery and murder case of the former Director of the Information Technology Division, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), Dr Wan Hassan Wan Embong has been identified through face recognition.

Kuala Lumpur Police Chief, Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin, said the victim's wife who was at the scene recognised the suspect's face, thus facilitating the police investigation.

He said, the police were also able to link the suspect to the incident with the discovery of Dr Wan Hassan's wallet at the second robbery location carried out by the same suspect in Taman Titiwangsa, here, at 5.30 am yesterday.

"It further led to the arrest of 10 men aged 20 to 29 years at 11.24 last night at a condominium in Jalan Sultan Ismail Kuala Lumpur.

"Eight of them were found to have a previous criminal record for various offences including burglary and robbery. In addition, one was also found to be positive for drug.

"Police are hunting for an acquaintance of the suspect involved in both cases in Bangsar and Titiwangsa," he said in a press conference here today.

He said the police confiscated 22 case items including the suspect's car and mobile phone.

He said police believed all the suspects had been active in committing robbery and burglary.

He said all of them were remanded for seven days to assist in the investigation.

Dr Wan Hassan was killed by a robber in a break-in at his residence in Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar yesterday.

In the 3.30 am incident, the house occupied by the victim and his wife, was broken into by two men armed with machetes.

The suspect, who was not wearing a mask, was believed to have asked for money which caused the victim to try to fight before being slashed on his face and neck while his wife was slashed on her right shoulder.