By Lindsay Murdoch and Jewel Topsfield
Kuala Lumpur: Two women and one man have now been arrested in relation to the assassination in Kuala Lumpur of the playboy half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, who died after a possible poison attack at the airport this week.
Following the first arrest of a woman on Wednesday, a second woman was arrested on Thursday, and then a man believed to be her boyfriend was also arrested.
Police commander Abdul Samah told reporters the man was the boyfriend of the woman and led police to her on Wednesday evening.
Indonesian deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Andreano Erwin said the embassy had verified the second woman was an Indonesian citizen based on personal data provided by Malaysian security authorities.
Kim Jong-nam at Tokyo's Narita international airport in 2001. Credit: Reuters
To follow up the verification process, the Indonesian embassy had requested consular access in order to ensure the woman's legal rights were fulfilled.
"At the moment, embassy staff are on the way to Selangor," Mr Andreano said.
"The Indonesian embassy continues to co-operate with Malaysian security authorities in this case."
Police said the woman was in the possession of an Indonesian passport naming her as Siti Aishah, born in Serang on February 11, 1992.
Police officers guard the entrance of the forensic department of Kuala Lumpur General Hospital on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images
She was arrested at 2am Thursday.
The first of two women captured in CCTV footage at Kuala Lumpur airport was arrested at 8am on Wednesday as she was about to board a flight to Vietnam.
A woman arrested by Malaysian police is seen on CCTV at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
She was travelling with a Vietnamese passport under the name of Doan Thi Huong, two days after two women attacked Kim Jong-nam, 48, in the departure hall of the airport's low cost terminal.
Police have not said whether the women's passports are genuine.
A CCTV image obtained by Malaysian police of one of the women arrested over Kim Jong-nam's death.
Police said the woman claiming to be Doan Thi Huong told them during interrogation she approached Mr Kim after four men at the airport convinced her to play a "prank" on a passenger.
She claimed she left the airport in a taxi with her companion and met the men at a hotel near the airport. She claimed they abandoned her so she decided to return to the airport to catch a flight.
Police have not confirmed the account. Both women have been remanded in custody for seven days pending further investigations.
Malaysia's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed late on Thursday that it was Mr Kim who was assassinated, citing documents from the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the body would be released to North Korean officials after all police and medical procedures had been completed.
Dr Zahid said he believed relations between North Korea and Malaysia would not be soured by the killing.
South Korea's intelligence agency and South Korean media outlets have claimed that two female North Korean spies were responsible for the broad daylight assassination.
Mr Kim was known to have spent most of his time outside North Korea and had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of the isolated state.
South Korea's acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has described the apparent assassination as a "brutal and inhumane" example of the nature of Kim Jong-un's regime.
"Based on the understanding that this case is of great importance, our government is keeping close tabs on North Korea's movements," Mr Hwang said during a special session of his country's national security council on Wednesday.
He reiterated a call for strengthened sanctions and pressure to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
In October 2012, South Korean prosecutors said a North Korean man detained as a spy had admitted involvement in a plot to stage a hit-run accident targeting Kim Jong-nam in China in 2010.
Malaysia is one of a dwindling number of countries that has close relations with North Korea, which is under global sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile launches. Malaysians and North Koreans can visit each other's countries without visas.
The North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur has made no comment. North Korea has made no public announcement on the assassination.