Batam, Rempang and Galang (Barelang) Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Asep Safrudin said that the police received reports of the death of Amar Aswan, 29, at the BCC Hotel and Residence in Batam from the hotel'€™s security staff at 6:30 a.m. on Friday.

"We arrested the four Malaysians based on the CCTV records and several other pieces of evidence three hours after the report, when the suspects were about to return to their country from two different seaports. The evidence showed that they were friends [of Amar]," Asep told The Jakarta Post.

Amar was found dead in his room with bruises on his body. An autopsy concluded that he died after being gagged and suffering head injuries.

"During the interrogation, the suspects admitted that they engaged in a dispute [with Amar] at a night club. [The suspects] couldn't accept that Amar hit one of them, which is the reason why they came to Amar's hotel," Asep said. "But we will investigate whether there were other motives including the possibility of [the case being] related to drug issues," he added.

Suspects Sarwanan Kuppusamy and Masyurizan bin Mardan were arrested on the Berlian 3 ship, 30 minutes after it had departed from Batam Center seaport to Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The other two, Goh Song Chew and Kalitazan Meganatan, were arrested at the Harbor Bay seaport.

The investigation found that Masyurizan was a Malaysian police officer. "We have asked the Malaysian police to provide us with records of the suspects," Asep said.(+++)

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