MALAYSIAN authorities have made two more arrests over the death of the North Korean leader’s half-brother, who was reportedly poisoned by a pair of female assassins as he waited for a flight in Kuala Lumpur.
Investigators are trying to piece together details of the death, which set off a torrent of speculation over whether Kim Jong Un dispatched a hit squad to kill his estranged older sibling, Kim Jong Nam.
Known for his love of gambling and casinos, Kim Jong Nam had lived abroad for years, aware he was a hunted man.
Three suspects – two women and a man – were arrested separately on Wednesday and Thursday.
The women were identified using surveillance videos from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46, suddenly fell ill on Monday morning.
Malaysian officials said he died on the way to hospital after telling medical workers at the airport that he had been sprayed with a chemical.
Multiple South Korean media reports, citing unidentified sources, said two women believed to be North Korean agents killed him with some kind of poison before fleeing in a taxi.
One of the female suspects had Vietnamese travel documents and was picked up on Wednesday at the budget terminal of the airport, the same place where the suspected attack took place.
The other woman held an Indonesian passport and was arrested early on Thursday.
Indonesian diplomats met with that suspect and confirmed she is an Indonesian citizen, officials said.
Authorities identified her as Siti Aisyah, 25, originally from Serang in Banten, a province that neighbours the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
News of the third arrest came on Thursday afternoon.
Police said they had detained a Malaysian man who was believed to be the boyfriend of the Indonesian suspect.
Medical workers also completed a post mortem examination on Kim Jong Nam, but the results have not been released.
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