Each detainee pays RM2000 to see family - Chuah

Each detainee is believed to have paid about RM2,000 to policemen who were allegedly in cahoots with a man who escaped police custody on July 9, as an inducement to take them to meet family members.

Penang Police Chief Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye said the sum of RM6,000 was later believed to be handed over to all involved policemen to be distributed among themselves.

"The investigation has been completed and submitted to the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters for further action and the police are still on the hunt for the escaped detainee," he told a press conference at the Penang Police Headquarters here today.

In the incident, three detainees were taken out of the Bayan Baru police station centralised lockup at about at 2am on grounds of seeking treatment at the hospital, however, the investigations found they were brought to meet their families in Sungai Ara instead.

One of the detainees Anuar Ayat, 43, who was arrested under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act, escaped when he was with a friend in Sungai Nibong after a meeting with his family at a condominium in Sungai Ara.

Following the incident, eight policemen aged between 27 and 59 were detained but released on police bail last Wednesday and have been suspended from duties pending investigations.

- BERNAMA