Police detain PPS personnel for refusing to stop activities

Police have detained 154 Penang Voluntary Patrol Team (PPS) personnel for refusing to stop their activities after PPS was found to be an illegal organisation as it is not registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said all PPS personnel including seven women were held at 10.15am in Padang Kota here to assist investigations under Section 41 of the Societies Act for not registering with ROS.

"Police started taking action against PPS personnel after they were adamant in carrying out their activities despite my prior warning that it is an illegal organisation that has been banned and all activities should cease

immediately.

"They insisted on carrying their activities and deliberately wanted to challenge the country's law and dared police to take action...they acted like gangsters," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

On Tuesday, Khalid had issued a statement that PPS was considered an illegal organisation which violated Section 41 of the Societies Act for not being registered with ROS.

Khalid said PPS should suspend all activities and write to ROS to seek clarification via the legal channel.

He said police have acted according to the law and would investigate and refer the case to the Attorney-General's office for further action.

"They will not be allowed to meet anybody including lawyers as police are conducting investigations and PPS lawyers who were unhappy in not being allowed to meet detained PPS personnel, I am telling them to refer to their law books.

"If police cannot settle their investigations in 24 hours, maybe we will seek a remand order from the court tomorrow (Monday) morning to complete investigations and under remand, lawyers could meet their clients," he said.

He also told PPS leaders including the Penang state exco linked to PPS to go to any police station to assist investigations.

"If they don't turn up, police will be going to their houses to look for them," he said.

In another development, a group of lawyers comprising Ramkarpal Singh, R.S.N Rayer, Cheah Ka Peng and Soon Lip Chee when met outside the Northeast district police headquarters said they were prepared to represent all 154 PPS personnel arrested this morning.

"We have 10 lawyers to assist them (PPS personnel), we are sad over the incident today," said Rayer.

Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's scheduled meeting with Seberang Perai PPS personnel at Seberang Perai Municipal Council auditorium has been postponed.

In addition, the state government had also postponed all PPS activities for today while obtaining feedback from the state legal advisor.