Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad speaks to reporters at the State Secretariat Building in Ipoh April 20, 2022. – Picture by Farhan Najib
IPOH, April 20 — Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad reminded the state Immigration Department to take precautionary measures at the Langkap Detention Depot here following the mass breakout at a detention centre in Sungai Bakap, Penang earlier this morning.
Saarani noted that what had happened in Penang could also happen in Perak if the authorities failed to recognise the creativity of detainees in finding ways to escape.
“Even though it is not the responsibility of the state government per say, the detention centre is located in Perak.
“So I hope what has happened in Penang will be a lesson to us, and the authorities at the detention centre in Langkap here should take necessary measures,” he told a press conference after distributing Aidilfitri goodies to uniformed squads at the State Secretariat Building here.
Earlier, Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud confirmed 528 detainees had broken out of a temporary detention centre in Sungai Bakap.
He said the incident happened at 4.30am when the detainees, who are all Rohingya, breached the grille and door to a block in the detention centre.
Penang police chief Commissioner Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain confirmed separately that six of the 528 detainees who escaped died while attempting to cross the North-South Expressway.
Mohd Shuhaily said the six detainees who were killed in the 6.50am incident comprised two men, two women, a boy and a girl.
“There were 664 Rohingya detainees at the depot and 528 of them escaped we managed to recapture 229 of them along the highway, while 88 others were recaptured earlier by villagers and Immigration Department personnel not far from the depot,” he said.
He said Penang police were in the midst of tracking down the remaining detainees, including children and senior citizens, believed to still be in Penang.