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Malaysia’s arrest of Israeli man with 6 guns triggers mystery – was Mossad or the mob involved?
- While the suspect has claimed he was planning to kill a rival gangster leader, Malaysian police are not ruling out Mossad’s involvement
- The Israeli secret service has been accused of past targeted killings in Malaysia, one of the world’s most outspoken pro-Palestinian nations
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The arrest of an Israeli national in upscale Kuala Lumpur armed with several guns and a French passport and who confessed to his underworld links has spurred fevered speculation in Malaysia about the intended target of his apparent assassination plot.
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Officers nabbed the 36-year-old suspect at a hotel on March 27, and checks on his hotel room yielded a cache of six semi-automatic pistols including a Sig Sauer, a Glock and Smith and Wesson, 200 bullets and several pairs of surgical gloves, all kept inside a bag.
The suspect was quickly identified by Israeli media as alleged mobster Shalom Avitan, purportedly an associate of the Israel-based Musli crime family.
He had confessed to being on a mission to kill the head of a rival Israeli criminal outfit who the suspect claimed had taken up residence in the Southeast Asian nation, Malaysian police said.
But the confession has done little to douse speculation over the real target of the assassination bid in Malaysia, one of the most outspoken nations against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza and other past transgressions targeting the Palestinians. Muslim-majority Malaysia, which does not recognise Israel, maintains ties with Hamas and has diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine.
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