PETALING JAYA - The assassination target of an Israeli man arrested by Malaysian police on March 27 had been nabbed for murder nearly two decades ago.

According to news portal Times of Israel, Eran Haya came to Malaysia following grenade attacks on the house of the recently detained Israeli man, identified as Shalom Avitan, in Tel Aviv earlier in March.

According to another Israeli news portal, Haaretz, Haya was arrested for a murder in Mexico in 2004 when he was 23.

Haya was suspected of killing a policeman-turned-gangland assassin in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2004, reported The Jerusalem Post.

Haya, who was an American citizen, had been under police surveillance until he went back to Israel two years later.

According to police sources, Haya, who grew up in the United States, returned to Israel at age 16 with his father, at which point he became active in the Israeli criminal underworld.

He was also a suspect in a number of other mob hits and murder attempts, although police sources say they have had trouble finding evidence against him.

He was believed to have ties to the Parinyan and Mulner crime syndicates.

One of these families was said to be in a violent feud with the Musli brothers crime family.

Avitan was caught at a five-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur on March 27. He allegedly came to Malaysia using a French passport but handed over an Israeli passport following police interrogation.

He told police that he came to Malaysia to assassinate a fellow Israeli over a family dispute.

However, police have not ruled out the possibility that Avitan is a foreign intelligence agent and have heightened security at places of interest and for the Malaysian King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other dignitaries. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK