Man falls from apartment balcony, believed to be murdered by syndicate member

JOHOR BAHRU - A local man who was believed to be involved in a drug trafficking syndicate died, believed murdered over a dispute with syndicate members at an apartment in Jalan Masai Jaya 2 here yesterday.

Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said in the incident at 12.45 am at a unit on level two, the 23-year-old victim was found dead on the ground floor believed to have fallen from the balcony.

According to him, a fight was believed to have broken out on the second floor of the building between the victim and three local men who were also syndicate members aged between 20 to 30 which led to the death.

"Police received information from the public that the victim fell from the second floor balcony and died.

"They were partners of a drug syndicate and one of them probably did not pay up his drug debt which led to the fight,” he told a media conference here today.

He said a forensic unit investigation found signs of a struggle as well as criminal element which caused the victims to fall from the balcony.

Kamarul Zaman said police would be looking into whether the man was pushed from the balcony.

Following investigations, three individuals were picked up on the same day in Desa Jaya here.

A background check showed the three individuals have past records relating to crimes and drugs and were remanded for seven days from today and they would be investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

In another development, a 40-year-old private sector employee in the state became the latest victim of ‘Love Scam’ and lost almost RM500,000 after being duped by a man on social media.

He said the single woman made 20 transactions from last year to yesterday to the man who is a foreigner before realising she had been cheated and lodged a police report.

"She was told to put her money into 15 different accounts in the scam,” he said. - BERNAMA