IPOH - A total of 131 illegal immigrants escaped from the men's block of the Bidor Immigration Detention Depot, yesterday.
Tapah district police chief Supt Mohd Naim Asnawi said that of the number, 115 were ethnic Rohingya while 16 were Myanmar nationals.
He said that the police received a call from a man informing them that all the detainees had escaped from the Bidor Immigration Detention Depot.
"A man, suspected of being an escaped detainee, was involved in a road accident and died at the scene at KM335 North-South Expressway,” he said in a statement today.
According to him, the search operations to locate the escaped detainees and the investigation are ongoing, with the help of officers and members of the 3rd Battalion of the General Operations Force (GOF) in Bidor, together with Bukit Aman and the state Criminal Investigation Departments.
He said that the case is being investigated under Section 147 of the Penal Code and Section 223/224 of the Penal Code, and efforts are underway to find the detainees.
"Members of the public with information can contact the Tapah IPD operations room at 05-401 5222,” he said. - BERNAMA