Penang police confirm discovery of man's body near Jesselton Park

GEORGE TOWN - ​Penang police have confirmed the discovery of a man’s body who is believed to have fallen off a rock cliff near Jesselton Park early Saturday morning.

State police chief Datuk Khaw Kok Chin said there were no identification documents on the man, who is suspected to be involved in a series of robberies and burglaries in the state and the body was found at 4.40 am during an operation in the area dubbed Op Rantau Dawai.

"Prior to the incident, a team from the state Criminal Investigation Department were conducting an operation together with the General Operations Force (GOF) in the Taman Jesselton neighbourhood at 12.30 am.

"During a patrol in the nearby forest, the police team came across three men who were behaving suspiciously. The police stopped them but they escaped to an unknown direction as the situation in the forest was dark,” he said in a statement today.

Khaw said the police team then conducted a search in the area but found no clues before discovering the man's body lying in prone position and motionless on a hill slope.

It is believed that the man fell from the cliff when he tried to escape with two other accomplices to avoid arrest by the police.

"Police found a backpack next to the body, which contained several pieces of green wire along with various equipment such as cutting tools, screwdrivers, cleavers and gloves which are suspected to be used for break-ins," he said.

He said that based on preliminary investigations, police have not ruled out the possibility that the suspect and his two friends, who managed to escape, were involved in the burglaries at the houses of the elite in Taman Jesselton.

Khaw said the post-mortem results revealed that the suspect’s death was due to head injury following a fall from a high place and the case was classified as sudden death.

The dead man is believed to be a member of the Rantau Dawai gang, which had been actively robbing and breaking into elite residences around the city. - BERNAMA