Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz is pictured leaving Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur June 15, 2019.

JOHOR BARU, July 17 — The politician nabbed by federal police in Johor yesterday to assist investigations into the sex video scandal targeting Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali has been identified as PKR’s Perak leader.

Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who is the political secretary to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and is also the party’s Kuala Kangsar division chief, was among three men arrested yesterday, a source close to the investigation said.

The 37-year-old was picked-up with two other men, aged 28 and 34, by a joint federal police team at a house in Bandar Seri Alam in Masai, near Pasir Gudang yesterday afternoon.

“A Bukit Aman Criminal Investigations Department team consisting of the classified crime investigations and organised crime investigation units raided the house at 3pm based on information.

“All three suspects were then brought to the Seri Alam district police headquarters for documentation and processing before being escorted to Kuala Lumpur,” said the source on condition of anonymity to Malay Mail today.

The same source said the other two men, one from Sabah and another from Selangor, were also arrested to assist the ongoing probe into the sex video scandal.

It was learnt that the two younger suspects are PKR Youth members.

“A couple who are the house owners and another man, aged between 35 and 46, were not arrested during the raid.

“Investigators are not dismissing the possibility that the house may have been used as a ‘safe house’ for three men as the police have recently zoomed-in on potential suspects believed to be linked to the case.

“The police will be applying for a remand order today for the three and investigations will be under Section 377B, Section 292 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” said the source.

Section 377B of the Penal Code deals with cases of voluntarily committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature, while Section 292 of the same Code pertains to disseminating obscene material. Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 deals with the improper use of network facilities or network service.

During the raid, the police also seized several mobile phones belonging to the suspects to look for potential leads.

Another source said all three suspects were arrested to assist police investigations on the sex video scandal based on originating reports lodged by Bukit Aman’s commercial crimes department on June 12 and also Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam on June 11.

“The latest arrests will assist authorities in the sex scandal probe where police are investigating the people behind the production and also circulation of the video,” said the source.

Bukit Aman CID chief Datuk Huzir Mohamed confirmed the arrest of three men in Johor yesterday.

However, he did not provide details on the suspects’ identity.

This brings the total of those arrested in connection with the case to nine people, including former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz.

On Monday, Haziq and five men were remanded until July 20. This follows their arrest in a police operation at multiple locations in the Klang Valley on Sunday night to assist investigations under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

On Sunday, Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador announced that investigators have learned the identities of those behind the sex videos that allegedly involve Azmin.

The sex clips first emerged in May and Haziq then claimed he was one of two men and accused Azmin of being the other.

Azmin has consistently rejected the allegation while PKR sacked Haziq earlier this month.