The New Straits Times reports a Palestinian man has been kidnapped during a ‘robbery’ operation in Kuala Lumpur.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency Believed to be behind the abduction of a Palestinian man who was snatched from the street in the capital Kuala Lumpur and interrogated before being freed by police, a Malaysian news organization reported.
Malaysia’s New Straits Times report on Tuesday that the Palestinian computer programmer was “robbed” by four men involved in the operation of one of two waiting cars on the night of September 28.
The abducted man – who has not been named – was beaten as he was taken to a house on the outskirts of the capital, where, blindfolded and tied to a chair, he was questioned through an interview. video call on issues related to the Palestinian political organization Hamas and its armed wing the Qassam Brigades.
“A video call was set up in front of the victim. On the line were two men, believed to be Israelis, whose opening sentence was: ‘You know why you’re here,’ the news organization reported.
“Over the next 24 hours, the victim was questioned and beaten by Malaysian agents when his answers did not satisfy the Israelis,” the news organization added.
“Israelis want to know about his experience in computer application development, Hamas’ strength in software development, the members of the Al-Qassam Brigade he knows and their strengths.” A source with knowledge of the incident told the New Straits Times.
The source also said the kidnapper group – identified as Malaysian – “disrupted” the operation when they let a second Palestinian man flee. Malaysian special forces also do not cover their faces and do not put fake registration plates on their vehicles, the source said.
The second Palestinian man, described as a “higher-rated arrest”, was able to alert the police, who traced the car’s registration plate to a house where the attackers were located. kidnapper is caught and the man is freed.
Both Palestinians have since left Malaysia, according to reports.
A “complete source of Malaysian information” endorsed with Al Jazeera Arabic that an investigation uncovered a “Mossad cell” in the country that was involved in spying on key locations, including airports, and sought to infiltrate “government electronics companies.” government”.
The source said the Mossad had hired Malaysian special forces trained in Europe to carry out the operation, according to Al Jazeera Arabic, which also cited Malaysian media as reporting that the Mossad had recruited a team of at least 11 Malaysians to train. focused on tracking Palestinian activists.
Mossad was previously involved in the 2018 assassination in Malaysia of the Palestinian scholar Fadi al-Batsh, 35 years old, who was shot down on the way to morning prayer in Kuala Lumpur.
Relatives of Al-Batsh accused the Mossad of being behind the murder.
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister at the time, said the suspects were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, according to state news agency Bernama.
Police said the two attackers waited for al-Batsh, a member of Hamas, in front of a residential building in Kuala Lumpur’s Setapak district for nearly 20 minutes, and fired at least 10 rounds, four of them. kill him instantly.
Hamas also accused the Mossad of assassinating al-Batsh. Israel denies the allegation.
Reporting on the Mossad’s alleged role in the Malaysian abduction, the Jerusalem Post said on Tuesday that in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2021 – which left more than 230 people dead in Gaza and 12 in Israel – the Israeli agency said it was “its policy to target Hamas Activists Anywhere”.
