Malaysian police link Ipoh murder to international gang amid surge in public shootings

A series of gun attacks over the past few weeks has triggered fear among Malaysians as most occurred out in the open

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A man holds a gun in a car park. A series of gun attacks in the past few weeks have made Malaysians jittery. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:29pm, 4 Jul 2025Updated: 3:57pm, 4 Jul 2025

Malaysian police believe a man gunned down in his Ipoh home last week was the victim of an international organised crime syndicate, marking the latest in a string of unresolved gang-related assassinations in public places that left five people dead and shocked the country last month.

Gun violence is rare in Malaysia, where unlicensed gun ownership and even brandishing a firearm as intimidation are capital crimes.

But a series of shootings over 12 days in June has sparked public fear – as three of the four incidents occurred at a restaurant, a shopping centre and in traffic in Klang Valley, Malaysia’s most affluent region encompassing Kuala Lumpur and industrialised areas of neighbouring Selangor.

In the latest case in Ipoh, about an hour north of Kuala Lumpur, the 57-year-old man was found dead in his home on June 24 with gunshot and knife wounds to his chest and abdomen. Police initially pinned the killing on his 31-year-old son, who discovered the body.

Police officers at the scene of the shooting in Klang on June 20. Photos: Facebook/Meru Klang Resident Official

Perak state police chief Noor Hisam Nordin later said investigations revealed the murder was linked to a major organised crime syndicate with international ties.

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