Thursday January 10, 2013

Handcuff detainees in the back, police told

SHAH ALAM: All policemen in Selangor have been told to handcuff detainees in the back during transit and have their shackles inspected by another officer.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm Mohd Adnan Abdullah said the directive, to be effective immediately, was issued by Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah.

“The new SOP is in line with increasing the security of detainees during transit,” he said at the state police headquarters here yesterday.

The directive was made in the wake of recent cases of detainees escaping from police custody. The latest such incident in Selangor was when a murder suspect fled from a court in Klang on Dec 26.

A. Viswanathan, 34, from Taman Kandis, was being taken to the Klang magistrate’s court to be charged with murder and two counts of vehicle theft when he suddenly managed to remove his handcuffs and hopped on a motorcycle to escape.

On Jan 1, police raided a house in Malacca and re-arrested Viswanathan, his first and second wives as well as his best friend and wife, who were believed to have helped in the escape.

The two policemen who escorted Viswanathan have been suspended pending investigations.

SAC Mohd Adnan said one of them, a 30-year-old corporal, had been charged on Jan 7 for negligence while the four people were charged with helping Viswanathan.

“We arrested another man this week for helping Viswanathan. We are investigating him for resisting arrest and abetment,” he said.

SAC Mohd Adnan advised the public not to offer any type of assistance to fugitives.

News

Thursday January 10, 2013

Handcuff detainees in the back, police told