JOHOR BARU: A dispute over drug debts resulted in the death of a 23-year-old, who was found sprawled in a pool of blood on the ground floor of a Masai Jaya 2 apartment on Sunday (May 29).

       Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said that police have since arrested three men aged between 20 to 33 to assist in investigations.

       "So far we believe that the suspects had a dispute with the victim over some old debts involving the purchase of syabu, which resulted in a fight.

       "As such the victim fell from the second floor of the apartment," he said, adding that the incident occurred at 1am.

       Comm Kamarul Zaman said that there were traces of a struggle.

       "All those arrested have past criminal records with regards to drugs. All are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for murder.

       He was speaking to reporters after hosting a state-level police Hari Raya celebration here on Monday (May 30).

       Meanwhile, in another unrelated case, Comm Kamarul Zaman said that police have arrested four people including a woman in connection with the robbery of a money-changer at the end of April.

       He said police have also recovered almost S$42,000 (RM132,000) of the stolen loot which was kept in biscuit tins.

       "We also seized pawn shop receipts, some jewellery totalling about RM12,000 and mobile phones," he said, adding that all items seized totalled RM144,076.

       He said the suspects, aged 30 to 42, were arrested in a series of raids on May 23. All have been remanded.

       In the April 29 incident, two suspects on motorcycles robbed two employees of a money-changer who were transporting S$110,000 (RM345,730) to the bank.

       "During the 10.10am incident, the armed robbers slashed the hand of one of the victims who had to have 37 stitches," Comm Kamarul Zaman said.

       Meanwhile in an unrelated case, a woman in her 40s lost almost RM500,000 to a love scam.

       Comm Kamarul Zaman said that the woman, who was still single, had sent money at least 20 times to her “lover” after meeting him last year.

       "We believe this to be the work of foreigners who target lonely women," he said, urging women to be careful and to be alert especially when asked to transfer money into multiple accounts.

       Comm Kamarul Zaman said that the woman had deposited money into 15 different accounts.