31-3-2024 (KUALA LUMPUR) The Israeli man apprehended by Malaysian authorities on March 29, reportedly as a potential assassination target, has a murky past involving a murder case nearly twenty years ago.
Eran Haya, as revealed by news portal Times of Israel, migrated to Malaysia following grenade attacks on the residence of Shalom Avitan, the Israeli man recently detained in Tel Aviv earlier in March.
According to another Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, Haya was arrested for a murder in Mexico in 2004, at the age of 23. The Jerusalem Post reported that Haya was suspected of killing a policeman-turned-gangland assassin in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2004.
Haya, who held American citizenship, remained under police surveillance until he returned to Israel two years later. His relocation to Israel at the age of 16, accompanied by his father, marked his initiation into the Israeli criminal underworld.
Police sources suggest Haya’s involvement in various mob hits and murder attempts, although evidence against him has been elusive. He was believed to have affiliations with crime syndicates such as the Parinyan and Mulner families, with the former engaged in a violent rivalry with the Musli brothers crime faction.
Shalom Avitan, the focal point of the recent arrest, was apprehended at a luxury hotel in Kuala Lumpur on March 27. Initially presenting a French passport, Avitan later surrendered an Israeli passport during police interrogation, claiming his presence in Malaysia was to execute a fellow Israeli due to a familial dispute.
However, authorities have not discounted the possibility of Avitan being a foreign intelligence operative. Consequently, security measures have been heightened at prominent locations and for notable figures, including Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and other dignitaries.
