SINGAPORE: The suspect who targeted his estranged wife in a shooting at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Sunday (Apr 14) has been arrested.
Hafizul Harawi, 38, was caught in Kota Bharu, Kelantan on Monday afternoon.
He allegedly opened fire at the entrance of the Terminal 1 arrival hall at about 1.20am.
Two shots were fired towards her from about 3m to 4m away. A bullet hit one of her bodyguards in the abdomen while the other bullet missed her.
The bodyguard is reported to be in stable condition in hospital.
Two members of the public were also injured when the man lit and threw firecrackers as he walked towards his wife to attack her.
POLICE REFRAINED FROM “ENGAGING” SUSPECT
The shooting sparked a nationwide manhunt and tighter policing at Malaysia’s borders and states.
Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said the police had refrained from “engaging” the suspect at KLIA to avoid jeopardising public safety.
The area where the suspect opened fire was crowded and engaging him could have led to a more serious incident, he said.
“It was better to let the suspect leave the area and keep members of the public safe.
“If we engaged him, there would have been a shootout. There were children among the many people there,” he said when asked why the police did not apprehend the suspect on the spot.
Police said the suspect had a personal vendetta against his wife and they were in the process of getting a divorce.
Hussein said police had recorded statements from 11 witnesses, including the suspect’s wife, policemen and airport security personnel.
“We will interview several more people, including business partners (of the wife),” he added.
TIGHTENED SECURITY MEASURES
At the same time, Hussein pointed out that several improvements will be made to tighten security at KLIA and raise the efficiency of police personnel.
The Selangor police chief highlighted the use of electric scooters by police officers as one of the measures, noting that this has been planned since the start of the year.
He added that Selangor police will get the scooters soon. “When we have these scooters, the police response will be faster and could patrol a wider area in a short time,” Hussein said.
According to him, the police will also propose to KLIA to install scanners to tighten control and improve early detection, especially for individuals carrying prohibited items such as firecrackers and firearms.
Unlike other countries that have scanners, people can currently enter the airport area without strict controls, said Hussein.
“At the airport, there are airside and landside where the airside (area) is prohibited while the landside (area) is open. So maybe there should be stricter control there so that people don’t bring prohibited items to endanger civilians at the airport,” he added.
Besides installing scanners, Hussein also recommended closing the corridors near the gates of the arrival and departure halls.
The vehicle parking lane near the arrival and departure gates also exposed KLIA to high risk, as individuals could park their cars and enter the airport easily, he said.
“This is a proposal by the police for a long time ago. We used to disallow the public from entering the area because of security factors.
“It threatens the security of the airport area because people can drive in and enter the airport without control,” he said.
Meanwhile, the outer lane would make it easier for police officers to patrol, said Hussein, thus making it more difficult for people to carry out undesirable acts.
