KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian police seized 72 bags of jewelry, various currencies and another 284 boxes of luxury branded handbags after a search operation in relation to the 1MDB probe which was carried out at several premises involving former Prime Minister Najib Razak, reported the national Bernama news agency on Friday.
Among the seized handbags were Hermes and Louis Vuitton brands, said head of the police Commercial Crime Investigation Department Amar Singh Ishar Singh at a press conference early Friday morning.
Police would make a detailed inspection later to determine the value of the "massive" seized goods, he added.
Altogether, the police has raided six premises in relation to the 1MDB investigation, namely the prime minister's Office, official residence of Najib at Putrajaya and four other homes, said the report.
Amar Singh said documents believed to be linked to 1MDB were also seized, adding such raids would go on till the completion of the investigations.
The police officer did not elaborate on whether there is enough evidence to prosecute Najib, only saying that the decision will be decided by national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who built much of his campaign accusing Najib of corruption, reopened the investigation into 1MDB, the state development fund established by Najib in 2009.
It is reported that some 4.5 billion U.S. dollars was misappropriated from 1MDB. Mahathir also vowed to recover 1MDB assets forfeited by foreign investigators, totally up to more than 45 billion U.S. dollars.
