Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian police on Saturday ordered a sweep of Kuala Lumpur airport for toxic chemicals and other hazardous substances following the mysterious killing of Kim Jong Nam.
Nuclear and radiation experts among others will begin sweeping the airport after it became clear that a chemical weapon – VX nerve agent – was used to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother.
The operation will take place at 1 am on Sunday (1700 GMT Saturday), police said, nearly a fortnight after the incident.
Malaysian police said earlier Saturday they would do everything possible to ensure there was no risk to the public from the VX nerve agent.
A Malaysian police officer guards the gate of the forensic wing at Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Friday. Malaysian police said Sunday that four suspects linked to last week’s killing of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, have fled the country. Mat Zain/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press Photo: Mat Zain/dpa
“We are working closely with our counterparts from the chemistry department, from our forensics as well as the team from the nuclear atomic agency in Malaysia … because we want to make it clear to the public whether there is any [radioactive] effect which could affect the health,” state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said.
Police had raided a condominium on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and were waiting for laboratory results to identify whether there were any hazardous substances present, he said.
He would not specify what the authorities found but stated the items were being tested for possible links to the mysterious murder.
VX, which is classified as a chemical weapon of mass destruction, was used to kill Kim Jong Nam on February 13, police said.
It is listed as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2005 and Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) 1997.
Kim Jong Nam was allegedly poisoned by two women, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, who wiped the highly toxic chemical agent on his face at the airport.
Indonesian suspect Siti Aishah has been visited by embassy officials, who confirmed that she believed she was carrying out a prank for a television show.
“She said she was paid RM400 [400 Malaysian Ringgit = 90 dollars] for her activities. She didn’t know that it was poison,” Andreano Erwin from the Indonesia embassy told reporters on Saturday.
Aishah thought the liquid given to her was baby oil, he added.
Malaysian police are searching for seven more North Koreans believed to be linked to the attack, including a diplomat in the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an airline worker with Air Koryo, the state-owned national flag carrier airline of North Korea.
Police have asked Interpol to issue an alert for the four North Koreans who fled Malaysia to Pyongyang on the day of Kim’s murder.
-dpa
