One for the spy movie material, this is one sensational case. Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, is thought to be responsible for the kidnapping of a Palestinian man who was abducted off a Kuala Lumpur street and interrogated before being freed by police.
The New Straits Times reported that the four men involved in the “snatch-and-grab” operation on September 28 shoved the Palestinian computer programmer into one of two waiting vehicles.
According to the report, there were two Palestinian men, both computer programming experts, however one had managed to get away from the kidnappers.
Meanwhile, the unnamed kidnapped man was assaulted while being driven to a house outside of the city. He was chained to a chair and asked questions via video chat about the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas political party in Palestine.
“A video call had been set up in front of the victim. On the line were two men, believed to be Israelis, whose opening line to him was: ‘You know why you are here.’”
“For the next 24 hours, the victim was interrogated and beaten by the Malaysian operatives when his answers were not to the Israelis’ satisfaction.”
“The Israelis wanted to know about his experience in computer application development, Hamas’ strength in developing software, members of the Al-Qassam Brigade that he knew and their strengths,” a source with knowledge of the case told the New Straits Times.
The insider said that the Malaysian kidnappers’ squad had “bungled” the abduction since they had let a second Palestinian victim escape. Apparently, the Malaysian operatives had also failed to cover their faces and did not place fake registration plates on their vehicles, according to the source.
The second Palestinian guy, who was dubbed a “more prized capture,” was able to alert the police, who were able to track the car’s license plate to a residence where the kidnappers were apprehended and the victim was released.
According to the source, both Palestinians have now departed Malaysia.
Israeli press reported that the Jewish state had declared war on Hamas internationally in May of last year. Leading Israeli officials have stated that they would pursue all Hamas leaders, no matter where they were. They said that in addition to targeting Hamas officials in Gaza, Israeli forces would also target them in Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and Malaysia.
However, this is not the first time Mossad has launched an attack on Malaysian soil.
In 2018, Fadi Mohamed al-Batsh, a 35-year-old Palestinian lecturer and Hamas member, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Kuala Lumpur.
His family has claimed that Mossad was responsible for his assassination.
The Israeli spy agency has denied involvement despite Hamas having allegedly captured a man, who had confessed to having been assigned the job by Mossad.
A local lady in her mid-30s is thought to be in charge of a Mossad network in the country, whose runners are locals.
Prior to being allegedly hired by a Mossad agent just before 2018, it is known that the lady received training as a private investigator.
Later on, the Malaysian woman was sent overseas, including to Europe, for espionage training.
