Police have confirmed that a suspect with the title of ‘Datuk’, who is being hunted for the killing of the Miri Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) branch secretary Bill Kayong, is believed to be in Australia.

Sarawak CID chief SAC Dev Kumar MM Sree Shunmugam said the suspect fled abroad on June 23, two days after the incident.

“We will use the existing legal channels to bring the suspect back,” he said when contacted today.

When asked about two other suspects who were also being hunted, Dev Kumar said they were believed to be still in the country and efforts to detect them were ongoing.

On Friday (July 15), two men were charged in the Miri Magistrate’s Court over the murder Bill Kayong, whose Muslim name is Mohd Hasbie Abdullah.

Mohamad Fitri Pauzi, 29, was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code with murdering Kayong, 43, on June 21 at about 8.20am at the traffic light junction near the E-Mart in Jalan Miri-Bintulu.

The second accused, Lie Chang Loon, 37, was charged with abetting Mohamad Fitri under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same code.

Kayong, who is also an enviroment activist was gunned down in a ‘mafia’ style hit.

- Bernama