KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysian police have arrested another two suspects in connection with a gay sex video implicating a minister, said national police chief Abdul Hamid Bador.
The Inspector-General of Police confirmed the two were arrested in the township of Shah Alam in Selangor on Friday (July 19).
"I can confirm that we have made two more arrests yesterday in Shah Alam. We will also be extending the remand on some of the individuals previously arrested in connection with the case.
He did not provide further details on the latest arrests, including the suspects' identities, but said that investigations into the matter are still ongoing.
"We are still in the midst of recording statements and taking action, so there is always the possibility that more arrests will be made," he told reporters on Saturday.
The police have previously arrested nine people in connection with the case, including former political aide Haziq Aziz and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Anwar Ibrahim's political secretary Farhash Mubarak.
Both Mr Haziq and Mr Farhash are supposed to be released on Saturday but the police have extended the remand period for the duo a further three days until July 23.
Mr Haziq had confessed last month to being one of the two men performing sexual acts in the video, and had claimed the other man was Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali.
Datuk Seri Azmin has denied this claim, and said it was a plot to destroy his political career.
Datuk Seri Anwar too has denied involvement, saying that insinuations about a higher-up being the mastermind behind the clips are "baseless".
On Thursday, the police said while they cannot confirm the identity of the two men in the videos, the mastermind behind their circulation is a leader of a political party who paid hundreds of thousands of ringgit for its production.
Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid on Saturday did not mince words when he said the case was a huge waste of police time.
"This whole thing is political. I have been urged from day one to verify the authenticity of the video."
"Now after doing so, I am being accused of making political statements," he said, adding that political parties that wanted to fight among themselves should do so within themselves.
"Don't bring your fights out into the public and get everyone else involved and make the police waste their time and resources to investigate such petty matters," he added.
