Was Kim Jong Nam poisoned?
Report says the case has perplexed leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison, and that they feel the airport attack is one of the most bizarre cases ever.
Its director Prof Dr Rahmat Awang was quoted by the Associated Press as saying yesterday he had yet to receive any sample, although he had expected them to arrive two days earlier.
Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said yesterday they were as yet unable to determine the cause of death of Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.
However, he ruled out the possibility of a heart attack. He also said there were no puncture marks on Jong Nam’s body.
Asked if he could have died of poisoning, Dr Noor Hisham had said: “We have to confirm with the laboratory before we can make any conclusive remarks.”
Jong Nam was waiting for his flight to Macau at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 on Feb 13 when he was attacked by two women. One apparently sprayed him with an unidentified liquid while another held a piece of cloth over his face. The North Korean sought assistance at the klia2 service counter but died on the way to the hospital.
Meanwhile, AP quoted Dr Rahmat as saying that as the murder of Jong Nam was a high-profile case, the authorities were likely to send specimens for analysis to his centre.
They were also likely to send specimens to facilities abroad to seek the cause of death or confirm findings already reached in Kuala Lumpur, according to the AP report.
It said identifying a specific poison could be challenging, especially if a minute amount was used and if it did not penetrate fat cells in the victim’s tissue.
If the toxin only entered the bloodstream, it could leave the body very quickly. And even if a substance is found, it would need to match the symptoms Jong Nam experienced before death. The more unique the poison is, the harder it is to find, according to the report.
Dr Rahmat was quoted as saying, “Our lab, for example, traces the usual chemicals. If the substance involved is not something we often see, the likelihood is that we might not be able to detect it.”
The report said highly sophisticated facilities in Japan or at the FBI’s crime lab in the US would have greater capabilities for discovering unusual toxic substances.
The case, AP reported, had perplexed leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison.
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These experts feel the airport attack is one of the most bizarre cases ever. They are puzzled as to how the two women could have walked away unscathed after deploying an agent potent enough to kill Jong Nam before he could even make it to the hospital.