KULIM: Police have remanded a farmer for six days following the case of two brothers who consumed snacks laced with rat poison, resulting in the death of one of them yesterday.
Judge Mirza Mohamad granted the remand application when the man appeared before the magistrate's court at 8am today.
The farmer, in his 30s and a neighbour to the boys from Kampung Padang Ubi, was apprehended in Lubuk Buntar, Serdang, yesterday afternoon.
He had no prior criminal record, and a drug test conducted on him returned negative.
Muhammad Akil Syauqi, 3, and Muhammad Luth Syauqi, 2, ingested snacks tainted with rat poison that were hung on a wire fence intended to deter wild animals near their home in Kampung Padang Ubi, Labu Besar.
Upon discovering the children vomiting, their mother rushed them to the Malau Health Clinic before transferring them to Kulim Hospital and subsequently to Penang General Hospital.
Akil died yesterday morning, while his younger brother continues to fight for his life.
Akil was laid to rest at the Kampung Banggol Berangan Islamic Cemetery here yesterday evening.
The farmer, identified only as Am, insisted that it was "impossible" for a child to reach the rat poison-laced snacks as they were securely tied at a height of 1.2 metres.
He alleged that the snacks must have been taken by an adult or fallen to the ground before the children consumed them.
He said his brother did not tie the snacks to a fence near the road, but rather closer to a monkey path area near the forest.
"There are only two possibilities, either an adult took it or a monkey did and it fell somewhere," Am said when met last night.
"My brother said he tied five packs of the snacks mixed with rat poison on the wire fence of the orchard.
"He believes three were taken away by monkeys, one is lost, while the other remains on the fence."
Am claimed that the rat poison from China was unregistered but commonly used by other farmers in the area.
He said that it had become normal for unregistered poisons to be sold in Kulim, with availability online for just RM3 per packet.
"We typically use this type of snack because the packaging and contents are brightly coloured.
"Monkeys often touch the snacks and then lick their fingers. We avoid using fruits because we don't want the cows we raise to lick or consume them."