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.