High-profile crimes in Malaysia
Malaysia has a reputation as a safe country to live in – we ranked 19th safest country in the world in 2024, according to the World Population Review. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our share of incidents revolving around terrible crimes that have deeply impacted us as a country.
From the murder of a beauty queen on the Federal Highway to the reign of terror in KL by a notorious gangster, we take a look back at 10 high-profile crimes and the criminals behind them, which shocked our nation to its core.
Disclaimer: The following cases contain disturbing topics, so reader discretion is advised.
1. The murder of a state assemblyman by Mona Fandey in 1993
Image credit: Medium
One of Malaysia’s most chilling crimes is the murder of the state assemblyman in 1993 by the notorious Mona Fandey. Born Nur Maznah binti Ismail, she was a pop singer turned bomoh. After leaving the music industry, she developed a sinister reputation as a witch doctor, attracting many wealthy and influential clients.
One of her clients was state assemblyman Mazlan Idris, who agreed to pay her a substantial sum of RM2.5 million in the hopes that her witchcraft could boost his political career. As part of their arrangement, he provided RM500,000 in cash and offered several land titles as collateral for the remaining balance.
During a cleansing ritual, Mona placed flowers on Mazlan and instructed him to lie down, close his eyes, and wait for “money to fall from the sky”. While doing so, Mona’s assistant, Juraimi, swung an axe three times, brutally beheading him. The duo then dismembered and partially skinned his body, burying the 18 parts beneath a storeroom floor, about 1.8 metres deep in the ground.
As for the motif for murder, it was speculated that Mona had killed Mazlan in revenge as one of the land deals fell through.
Mona’s half-finished house in Kampung Pamah Dong, Pahang, where the gruesome murder took place.
Image credit: New Straits Times via website
Shortly after the murder, Mona and her husband, Mohammad Nor Affandi Abdul Rahman, withdrew money from Mazlan’s bank account and went on a shopping spree, purchasing luxury cars, jewellery, and electrical appliances. Mona even used her newfound wealth to get a cosmetic procedure, at a cost of over RM13,000.
The house where Mona lived has since been demolished, but some walls remain standing.
Image credit: Berita Harian
Mona’s extravagant display of wealth caught the attention of the police. It didn’t take long for them to uncover the gruesome truth: the butchered body of Mazlan hidden underneath her house, in a tunnel, in Pahang.
Even while facing the death penalty, Mona infamously appeared all smiles in photos and sinisterly uttered “I will never die” as her final words before her hanging on 2nd November 2002.
2. The heartbreaking murder of Nurin Jazlin in 2007
Image adapted from: Majoriti
On the evening of 16th August 2007, 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin left home to buy a hair clip at a night market in Wangsa Maju. However, she never returned home.
Her parents submitted a missing person’s case to the police and appealed to the public for help in finding their daughter. Despite their endless efforts, weeks passed by without any leads. That is until 16th September, the same year, when authorities discovered a sports bag in front of a shop in PJ, approximately 20km away from where Nurin was last seen.
Inside the bag was the deceased body of a child.
Upon further inspection, investigations found that the victim had been assaulted and was deceased for six hours when her body was found. This made it difficult for Nurin’s parents to identify their daughter. DNA results ultimately confirmed the devastating truth that the victim was indeed Nurin.
The Kuala Lumpur Police reviewed the CCTV footage from the time Nurin was kidnapped, but the poor quality of the clip made it difficult to identify the perpetrator. The grainy footage captured a final, haunting image of Nurin.
On 1st October, four men and a women were arrested in relation to Nurin’s murder, but there was no evidence to prove that they were involved. Till today, the perpetrator remains at large, leaving the public hoping for justice for her.
3. The nation’s most wanted killer & his reign of terror in the ’90s
Image credit: Citizens Journal
During the ‘90s, a gangster named Bentong Kali infamously terrorised Kuala Lumpur, earning him the title of the “nation’s most wanted killer”. He was a cruel gangster who gained popularity through a reign of violence, extortion, and drug trafficking that held the city in fear.
His turn to crimes began at just 14 years old. P. Kalimuthu, a.k.a Bentong Kali, dropped out of school and embraced the dangerous allure of gang life. Over the span of three years, his name became synonymous with terror. He was linked to a total of 17 reported murders, marked by brutal gangland-style executions, drive-by shootings, and gunfights.
Some of his victims include four guests at a relative’s wedding party and a homeowner who picked a quarrel with him for urinating at his front gate. There was no motif for his crimes – he was easily provoked and would put an end to anyone who dared go against him.
The weapons that Kali and his henchmen used to carry out their crimes.
Image credit: New Straits Times
Kali first went behind bars at the age of 19. Upon release, he joined another gang and actively smuggled drugs. At 24 years old, he had already been in and out of jail three times, which includes a 2-year stint in maximum security at Penang’s Jerejak Island Island.
He eventually formed his own gang, leading the police to place a bounty reward of RM100,000 on his head, while wanted posters were spread across the nation and even to neighbouring countries such as Thailand.
Image adapted from: Carousell
His reign of terror finally came to an end when authorities uncovered his central role in drug trafficking. On 29th June 1993, Kali was confronted by a massive team of police, and ultimately met his demise in a shoutout at his flat and hideout in Medan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
4. The murder of a former beauty queen in 1979
Image credit: The Star
On 6th April 1979, former Negeri Sembilan pageant winner, Jean Perera Sinnappa, was brutally stabbed to death around 11.20pm, in the front passenger seat of a white Fiat 125 parked along a road shoulder of the Federal Highway. A psychology lecturer and her brother-in-law, S. Karthigesu, was found unconscious near the vehicle.
He later claimed that he had pulled over to relieve himself and was knocked out while she was slain.
They were discovered by two aircraft engineers, who had pulled over while passing the Subang Airport interchange on the highway.
Image credit (for illustration purposes only): HSS Group
The high-profile murder case sparked numerous theories. Some speculated that it was a crime of passion as Karthigesu was rumoured to be in love with Jean and had intentions to marry her, as Jean’s husband and his brother had passed away in a road accident.
However, Jean was romantically linked to a Sri Lankan doctor, Dr. Narada Warnasurya, who she had been exchanging love letters with, incriminating Karthigesu as a murderer who killed her out of jealousy and revenge.
Karthigesu after his was acquitted.
Image credit: The Star via website
Karthigesu was ultimately arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death, with 60 witnesses testifying against him. In a twist of events, on 20th May 1981, he was released from prison after serving a sentence for just over two years as a key witness admitted that he had lied during the trial.
The lack of conclusive evidence has kept Jean’s tragic murder unsolved, and one of Malaysia’s most sensational crimes.
5. A serial rapist in the ’90s
Image credit: YouTube
Between 1996 and 1997, Lee Chow Meng tormented Malaysia with a horrifying record of 18 sexual assaults and five murders. It resulted in him being labelled Malaysia’s Ted Bundy. His spree of violence was triggered by the end of a relationship with his girlfriend, driving him to seek revenge on other women.
Lee targeted his victims through newspaper and magazine advertisements, using false identities to lure them into meetings. When he would meet the victims, he would drug and assault them. He even further exploited them by extorting money, threatening to expose explicit photos if they did not comply.
The police launched a large-scale manhunt and offered a reward for any information leading to his capture. After more than a year on the run, Lee was finally arrested in 1997.
Although the evidence was limited for many cases, he was charged with the murder of one victim and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, receiving a 15-year prison sentence. However, Lee succumbed to health complications brought on by HIV and only ended up serving two years behind bars.
6. The murder of Noritta by a killer with a strong body odour in 2003
Image credit: Lobak Merah, New Straits Times
The death of Noritta Samsudin, a 22-year-old company executive and part-time model, remains a haunting mystery to this day. On 5th December 2003, her lifeless body was discovered at her home in Sri Hartamas by her housemates. A week before her death, she had been in her hometown of Kangar to visit her family.
Noritta’s body was found bound with wires, her head wrapped in a bolster case, and her mouth stuffed with a towel. The official cause of death was suffocation.
Her housemates claimed that they encountered a tall and dark stranger with a strong body odour fleeing their apartment earlier, but they were unable to stop him or identify him. There were no signs of a break-in, and neither were any valuables missing from the apartment.
The police arrested several individuals potentially linked to the murder for questioning, including Noritta’s ex-boyfriend, her current boyfriend, her stockbroker, and two of her housemates.
After an extensive investigation, her ex-boyfriend, 36-year-old engineer Hanif Basree Adbul Rahman, was labelled as the prime suspect as he was the last person to have seen Noritta alive. However, on 1st July 2004, Hanif was acquitted due to a lack of conclusive evidence and holes in the prosecution’s case.
7. The triple murder at Jalan Turi Bungalow
Image credit: Carigold
On 23rd April 1992, Suneeta Talwar returned home after a night out with friends, only to encounter a horrifying scene. The family’s security guard, Ariffin Agas, viciously attacked her with stones, making her flee to a neighbour’s house for help.
Unknown to her at the time, her children, Kabir, aged 11, and Arjun, aged 7, along with their maid, Natalia Fernandes, had been battered to death inside their bungalow.
When the police arrived at the estate, they discovered the deceased bodies of the children and the maid in the septic tank behind the bungalow. Ariffin Agas was immediately brought to the police station for questioning, but when asked about his motive, he could not give a reason.
It was suspected that Ariffin was struggling with a psychological disorder that could have contributed to his heinous actions, as he told his supervisor that he was forced to kill the family. It was also found that he exhibited “normal” behaviour after the murder, returning to his assigned post at the bungalow, like nothing had happened.
On 28th March 1994, the high court sentenced Ariffin to be hung for the murder of the two children and their maid. The execution took place on 27th December 2002 at Kajang Prison.
8. The abduction and murder of Canny Ong in 2003
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, X
One of Malaysia’s most tragic and high-profile murder cases is that of 28-year-old Canny Ong, an IT analyst from the United States who had been visiting her ill father in Malaysia. She was abducted from a parking lot at a shopping centre in Bangsar after attending a farewell dinner with her mother, sister, and friends earlier that evening.
Surveillance footage later showed her car being hastily driven away by an unidentified male, crashing through the exit barrier. Despite extensive search efforts, she remained missing.
Several days later, her abandoned car was found in Taman Petaling and a charred body was discovered nearby a construction site. Investigators on her case conducted a DNA test on the body to identify the victim and potential suspect. The results confirmed that the deceased body was indeed Canny Ong’s, with traces linking Ahmas Najib Aris, a cabin cleaning supervisor, to the crime.
He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to death, spending many years on death row. His lawyers attempted to appeal the sentence for 11 years, however their efforts were ultimately rejected, and he was executed in 2016, 13 years after the murder of Canny.
9. The brutal murder of Lily Chua in 1993
Image credit: In Real Life
In a tale of love turned deadly, Lily Chua, a 30-year-old singer, found herself entangled in a tumultuous affair with Michael, one of her regular clients. Their relationship, once filled with promise, soured as Lily’s feelings for Michael intensified into an unhealthy obsession.
Consumed by jealousy, she began stalking him and harassing his wife.
Overwhelmed and desperate to end the torment, Michael tragically resorted to violence. In a moment of rage, he fatally stabbed Lily, ending her life. He later dismembered her body into 11 pieces using a meat cleaver, and disposed of the remains in plastic bags along bushes in Jalan Tunku.
Two days after her murder, a street cleaner stumbled upon the plastic bags and notified the police. The body had decomposed significantly, making it difficult to identify the victim. In response, the police released images, sketches, and detailed descriptions of the victim to aid the investigation.
A civilian saw the news and called to report that her tenant had been missing for several days, suspecting that the victim could be her. The family of the missing person was called upon to identify the body, who confirmed it was indeed Lily Chua.
During questioning, the victim’s sister disclosed Lily’s affair with a married man, leading the police to consider him their prime suspect. Michael Gan Wei Seng was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison, however, he was set free 6 years earlier due to a reassessment of evidence.
10. The rape and murder of an engineering student in 2000
Image credit: @dalphalegacy via X
On 7th October 2000, Noor Suzaily Muktar was on her way to work when bus driver Hanafi Mat Hassan suddenly went off the usual route and diverted to Jalan Bukit Tinggi. It was there that Hanafi initiated his heinous acts against Noor.
Witnessing the unfolding horror was 18-year-old Devan who was cycling when he spotted a woman inside the bus, desperately banging on the tinted window of the passenger door for help. Hanafi dismissed Devan’s attempts to intervene and quickly drove away.
Devan, along with a motorcyclist, a middle-aged man, and a driving school instructor followed the bus. As Hanafi noticed the group of civilians coming towards the bus, he fled to Taman Chi Liung, and continued his assault of Noor. Hanafi then used Noor’s headscarf to strangle her.
Noor’s lifeless body was discarded near a construction site on Jalan Bukit Tinggi. Though he fled the scene, local police were able to trace Hanafi and had him arrested on the spot. The legal proceedings led to Hanafi’s conviction and sentencing to death by hanging on 18th December 2008, at Kajang Prison.
Malaysia crimes and murders that have shocked the nation
As we look back on these cases, we’re reminded of the deep impact these events had on our society. These incidents have captured our attention and highlighted the ongoing need for justice and safety in our communities.
Our condolences go out to the affected families, and may the souls of the victims rest in peace.
You might also be interested in reading about these 8 unsolved crimes and mysteries in Malaysia and these 14 haunted places in Malaysia.
Cover image (for illustration purposes only) adapted from: HSS Group