Rela officers not involved in deaths (Star)

Nation

Saturday February 18, 2006

Rela officers not involved in deaths

PUTRAJAYA: Rela officers could not have been involved in the death of two illegal immigrants at the Selayang Wholesale Market during an operation on Feb 11, said former Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid.

He said that the post-mortem findings showed the two died three to five days before the post-mortem on Feb 13.

“This shows that the Feb 11 operation did not have anything to do with their deaths,” he added.

Azmi, now Natural Resources and Environment Minister, explained this in a statement as the incident took place during his tenure as Home Affairs Minister.

He said the Rela headquarters received calls from the British Broadcasting Corpora- tion on Wednesday enquiring about the death of five illegal immigrants during a Rela operation at the wholesale market.

On the Feb 11 operation at 2am, Azmi said Rela officers checked the documents of foreign workers while some illegals ran away.

‘Duck-walk’ incident not a Rela operation (Star)

Nation

Thursday February 16, 2006

‘Duck-walk’ incident not a Rela operation

PUTRAJAYA: The incident in which 22 workers of an IT company were made to do a 50m “duck-walk” at Section 30 in Shah Alam last Sunday was not a Rela operation.

“The action was taken by 10 residents who were unhappy with the workers' behaviour since they moved into the area three weeks ago,” Rela director-general Datuk Mahadi Arshad said, adding that police would conduct investigations following a report lodged by the 22 men.

“Coincidentally, three of them were Rela members.”

Mahadi said severe action would be taken against the three Rela members if they were found to have done wrong.

It was reported that the 22 bachelors, comprising mostly factory and contract workers in their 20s, cried foul over the way the Rela members and villagers conducted a raid on their home.

They claimed that they were beaten and forced to do the duck walk around the housing area and apologise to some residents for causing a din.

Eighteen of them lodged police reports on Monday.