Choong Khuat Hock's murder: Suspect picked up

Some latest developments on the Choong Khuat Hock tragedy. Early yesterday morning, Police located the missing black Mercedes Benz belonging to Choong Khuat Hock. It was recovered at a parking lot near a pub in Taman Desa near Jalan Klang Lama. The find was made after a tip-off by a member of the public.

After a quick inspection, the vehicle was towed to the Brickfields police headquarters for forensic examination. Definitely, fingerprints may be crucial to this case. According to the police, the car may have been left at Taman Desa for about at least four days. Its front tyres were flat.

A bit later, the Police was confident enough to name Adam Brahim Djaghlouli, an Algerian man, as the one they were seeking to "assist them to solve Choong's murder". This is usually a euphemism to mean that this chap is a suspect in the case.

The Police said that Adam had been a close confidante of Choong for about a year and could be the last man to see Choong alive. “Our investigations show that Adam entered the country with an Algerian passport last year but used a Jordanian passport when he entered in 2008."

Then at around midnight, this suspect was arrested at a rented apartment in Taman OUG, Jalan Klang Lama, in Kuala Lumpur. According to Bentong Police, the man called them after learning that he was being sought.

"Following the call, police from the Brickfields station and Bentong district headquarters went to the man's apartment in Taman OUG. He was cooperative and did not resist the arrest," the police said today. He is now believed to be still remanded at the Bentong district headquarters.

Note: What happened was that the decomposed remains of Choong, a noted financial analyst, was found in a ditch off the Karak highway in Pahang on 13 Mar. He had been reported missing for about four days already. Even at that time, the newspapers were saying that Choong was last seen with a "middle-eastern" man on 9 Mar evening. As this sort of information could only have come from the police themselves, they must have been sure of themselves already. It was only a matter of time before they picked up this "unidentified" man, unless he had already fled the country, and the police were pretty sure that he hadn't. The trail to this Algerian certainly wasn't cold.

On Wednesday, Choong was cremated at the Nirvana Memorial Park with about 100 of his relatives and friends present. "It is all over," lamented his father Freddie Choong Eng Eong. "Whoever his murderer is, whether the murderer would be arrested, only God knows. I have told everything I know to the police. Please stop speculating; just allow them to investigate the case so that justice is swiftly served," he said. I think we've got to respect that.