Temple caretaker murder solved; 7 detained

Police believe the murder case of an 80-year-old temple caretaker at the temple's store in Penang Street here on Dec 19, has been solved following the arrest of seven suspects.

Penang CID chief SAC Mazlan Kesah said during the investigation, 11 people were nabbed three days after the incident on Jan 2 and 5.

"Four were released while seven are still being held including the prime suspect, aged 23 years, who worked as a mobile phone card seller, besides a middleman in stolen goods while the others are involved in gold investment. All of them have been remanded.

"We consider the case closed and will be brought to court shortly. We succeeded in solving the case with information from members of the public," he told a news conference here today.

In the incident, the body of P. Muthu was found at 5pm with slash wounds on the neck after a suspect broke into the temple through the backdoor before killing the victim using a sharp weapon.

Mazlan said police also recovered 90 per cent of the stolen items in the case valued at RM60,000 including prayer paraphernalia.

He said the case was investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder which carried the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

In another development, Mazlan said police had detained four suspects aged between 25 and 40 years believed to be involved in a robbery of three foreign tourists at Sungai Lembu, Seberang Perai Tengah last Thursday.

He said three suspects were nabbed in Kulim, Kedah two ago days ago while another suspect was captured in Seberang Perai this morning and all were unemployed with no past criminal records.

He said police also found 90 per cent of the items in the robbbery including cash and luggage valued at about RM5,000.

He said all suspects were remanded for a week and the case would be investigated under Section 394 of the Penal Code which provided for a maximum of 20 years imprisonment and fine or cane if found guilty.

In the 4pm incident, three Moroccans comprising two women and a man in their 20's had just arrived at the Penang International Airport had boarded a taxi to a hotel in Batu Ferringhi.

However the tourists became suspicious when the taxi driver who was with an accomplice headed towards the mainland.

The tourists were left in Sungai Lembu in Bukit Mertajam after being robbed of RM2,000, mobile phones and cameras.