TAPAH – The residents of Kg Batu Melintang here provided food and drinks to two detainees who escaped from the Bidor Temporary Immigration Depot on humanitarian grounds before they were detained by police.
One resident, Razali Talib, 69, a retired teacher, said that when the two detainees, believed to be in their teens, were apprehended by the congregation of Masjid Jamek Ar Rahmaniah Batu Melintang, he offered them drinks out of pity for their situation.
“They didn’t ask for food but some people felt sorry for them, so they donated two packets of fried noodles.
“But one of them, the Rohingya one, didn’t want fried noodles, he wanted instant noodles instead. However, the Bangladeshi guy probably was hungry because he finished one and a half packets of fried noodles,” he said when interviewed by reporters here today.
Razali, who is also the mosque’s imam, said he saw the escapees inside the mosque when he was about to perform the sunat prayer before dawn.
After the sunat prayer, Razali inquired about the detainees’ origins but found their responses unsatisfactory.
“One claimed, ‘I am from Bangladesh,’ but I doubted it because his facial features resembled Rohingya (Myanmar). As people were preparing for the dawn prayers (in the congregation), we proceeded, and they joined in. I left them undisturbed for a while,” he recounted.
Following the dawn prayer, Razali promptly requested his friend, retired police officer Mohd Isa Ariffin, 70, to contact police and report the situation.
While waiting for police to arrive, Razali instructed the mosque’s caretaker to observe the detainees’ movements while engaging them in conversation.
“While one couldn’t converse in Malay, another mentioned working in this area, claiming to be from Myanmar. I urged them not to fabricate stories since there have been no Myanmar or Bangladeshis working here,” he added, noting that the detainees were casually dressed but without shoes.
Razali said that police arrived at the mosque to investigate and confirmed that the individuals were indeed among the detainees who had escaped from the detention centre. Subsequently, they were taken to the Ipoh district police headquarters.
According to Razali, village folk had been vigilant, particularly after the village chief alerted residents about the recent incident involving undocumented migrants fleeing from the detention centre.
“This area is known for its population of retired police personnel. They regularly update the community on matters pertaining to village security and legal concerns,” he remarked.
In the Thursday night incident, a total of 131 undocumented migrants managed to escape from the male block of the detention centre, and tragically, one of them lost their life in a road accident.
Out of the 131 escapees, 115 were Rohingya, 15 were Myanmar nationals, and one was a Bangladeshi.
Earlier, Immigration Director-General Datuk Ruslin Jusoh had verified that 10 of the escapees had been successfully apprehended as of this morning. – February 3, 2024