Star, Tuesday April 22, 2008
By SARBAN SINGH
SEREMBAN: Sixty foreigners, mostly Myanmar nationals, rioted at the Lenggeng detention camp for illegals apparently after they were told that their application to move to a third country was unsuccessful.The rioters torched an administrative building and threatened the Immigration and Rela personnel with injury in the 10am incident on Monday.
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Alert status: Security personnel keeping an eye on some of the detainees at the Immigration facility yesterday. — Bernama |
State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh said six Myanmars, six Indonesians, a Vietnamese and a Cambodian have been arrested.
He said the rioters gained entry into the two-storey administrative building located in the middle of four blocks housing some 820 male illegals.
“They set fire at the ground floor causing damage to the furniture and computers. We were fortunate that the Fire and Rescue team arrived quickly to put out the flames,” he said when met at the centre.
Osman said the authorities were not able to determine who told the rioters that their applications had been rejected.
“The group first gathered outside their block and tried to bring down a perimeter fencing at about 8am. The authorities tried talking to them but a short while later, they turned violent and gained entry into the office and set it ablaze,” he said, adding that the rioters were not armed.
About 100 police and Federal Reserve Unit personnel and another 100 Rela members were called in to bring the situation under control. Also on duty were some 40 Immigration officers.
Personnel from the Civil Defence Department and health services were also on standby. However, Osman said there were no reports of injuries.
Asked if the rioters were unhappy with the treatment at the centre, Osman said preliminary investigations did not point to this.
“At this point in time, all I can say is that they were unhappy because they heard that their application to go to a third country had been rejected,” he said.
Osman could not confirm if the rioters had started a hunger strike on Sunday for alleged poor treatment by camp authorities.
The camp, which also houses 280 female illegals, was handed over by the Prisons Department to the Immigration in January.
When contacted, a Myanmar Embassy official said they had no knowledge of the incident.
“We can’t say anything because the police have not sought our assistance and we are not aware of what happened,” she said.
