Indonesian swallows SIM card

Nurin murder probe: Indonesian swallows SIM card

By : Lee Shi-Ian, Alang Bendahara, and Fadhal Ilahi Abdul Ghani

The suspect fainted while being led to the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court yesterday. —Picture by Ahmad Irham Mohd Noor.

KUALA LUMPUR: A 23-year-old Indonesian woman was arrested at noon yesterday in connection with the murder of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin.

When police nabbed her, she swallowed a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, which police believe could contain evidence linking her to the 8-year-old's murder.

After she was picked up at a hypermarket in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, police seized two mobile phones, four SIM cards and RM477 from her. She had no travel documents.

Federal CID director Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee would only confirm her arrest and declined to comment further.

But a source said: “The woman was apparently responsible for feeding Nurin while she was held captive. Police are trying to find where Nurin was held.”
A prepaid starter pack seized from the suspect had the same number used to make calls to police through the RakanCop hotline.

She had used other SIM cards to make calls and send text messages to police and Nurin's parents.

“There were several calls and text messages,” the source said.

“The suspect had also called Jazimin Abdul Jalil several times, and sent text messages, saying Nurin was safe and being taken care of.”

Police believe the suspect may be the woman caught on a closed-circuit television camera, sitting next to the sports bag in which Nurin's body was found on Sept 17.

The CCTV images have been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States for enhancement.

After police obtained a seven-day remand order from the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court, the woman was taken to University Malaya Medical Centre, where at press time police were still waiting for the contents of her stomach to be flushed out.

A blood sample will then be taken for DNA testing.

Police are also investigating whether the woman was responsible for luring Nurin away from a pasar malam in Wangsa Maju on Aug 20, the night she was reported missing.

The arrest comes about 24 hours after police picked up four men, aged from 27 to 33, and the wife of one of the men in Shah Alam.

The men have been remanded for seven days while the wife was released on police bail. Police are also planning to interview their two children to find out if they have been sexually abused.

The Indonesian woman arrested yesterday is the girlfriend of one of the suspects in the sexual assault and murder of Nurin.

One of the four suspects was previously investigated by police in connection with a rape in Masai, Johor, last year.

He was renting a room with a family who accused him of rape. It is not clear whether the victim was a child or an adult.

Police are preparing to re-examine that case.

None of Nurin's clothing was in the bags of clothes police removed from a house in Klang and a shophouse in Shah Alam on Friday.

Nurin's naked body was found inside a sports bag under the staircase of a shoplot in Petaling Jaya Utama on Sept 17.

Her clothes have yet to be found.