Rabat – Police in Albuquerque, the largest city in the US state New Mexico, have apprehended a primary suspect who said to be linked to the murder of two Muslim men in the city.
The Albuquerque Police Department announced on Tuesday the arrest of the suspect identified as Muhammed Syed from Afghanistan, and CBC News reported that a “tip from the public led authorities to Syed.”
CBC News’s report added that when police went to the suspect’s house in Albuquerque, “he fled in a Volkswagen Jetta, which authorities had already told the public they were looking for in connection to the murders.”
The Albuquerque Police later tweeted that they were able to arrest Syed, with police chief Harold Medina writing on Tuesday on Twitter: “We tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved in a recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque.”
Syed is now in police custody and is considered a “primary suspect” in the murder of two of the four Muslims men who have been killed in Albequerque in recent weeks.
Police found several firearms in Syed’s house, with CBC reporting that one of the guns is believed to have been used in two murders he is charged for.
As of now, authorities said that the suspect is charged with two of the latest murders. Howeever, police believe that the 51 year-old suspect could be charged with the two other murders of the series of killings of Muslim men in the past several months.
Police found the bodies of two victims on July 26 and August 1 before identifying the third murder on August 5. Two of the victims were from Pakistan, while another victim was from Afghanistan.
The first homicide took place in November 2021.
Both the FBI and the Albuquerque police think that the perpetrator knew his victims.
Muslim communities in the US have been reeling since news emerged of of the spate of murders. Some Muslim shops owners in Albuquerque started closing their businesses before dark, while others have been concerned about leaving their places.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) strongly condemned the heinous killings of the four Muslim men in Albuquerque and announced a $10,000 reward for information that could contribute to the arrest of the suspect.
