Farm workers feed a hungry stranger, then blow the whistle

TAPAH: Five Felcra workers in Sungai Gempel here were surprised when an illegal immigrant from the mass escape at the Bidor Immigration Temporary Depot gave in to hunger pangs and appeared on their farm here for help Sunday night.

Farm supervisor Mohd Firdaus Salim said the Rohingya man in his 20s was disoriented, weak, barefoot and famished when he showed up at about 8.40 pm.

"I received a video call from an Indonesian worker living in a house on the farm, saying there was a stranger who was also asking for food for 10 more people while holding his stomach and pleading for shelter.

"They fed the escaped detainee a meal of rice and told him to sleep in a room, while I reported the matter to the police," he said at the scene of the incident yesterday.

He said the prisoner was arrested by police who arrived at their quarters while he was sound asleep and when queried later could not recall the route to return to the 10 other illegal immigrants whom he claimed to be at a location near the Bukit Tapah Permanent Forest Reserve.

Mohd Firdaus said the farm workers quarters was located about five kilometres from the Bidor Immigration Depot and the solar lamp illuminating the area might have attracted the escapee's attention.

Meanwhile, residents of the Sungai Merah Orang Asli Village located on the farm are also on guard following the isolated arrests made in the area Sunday night.

Sukardi Bah Chapa, 46, who is also chairman of the Orang Asli Village Development and Security Committee (JPKKOA) of Sungai Merah, said 40 residents took turns patrolling from night to dawn to ensure the safety of the village folk from any threat of desperate illegal immigrants at large.

"We patrol from night to early morning because we are concerned about the safety of the 275 Orang Asli in 72 houses here, including women and children," he said, adding that they would also alert the authorities if any strangers appeared.

In the breakout at 9.50 pm on Feb 1, a total of 131 detainees comprising ethnic Rohingya, Myanmar nationals and Bangladeshis, who escaped by climbing the barbed fencing during a riot from the Bidor Temporary Immigration Depot.

However, two of them died in road accidents while as of this afternoon, a total of 56 illegal immigrants have been recaptured.

-- BERNAMA

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