LESS than a week after a video of a riot in Kanowit, Sarawak went viral on social media, another video has been gaining traction of an altercation that allegedly happened in Semporna, Sabah recently.
Is it true that a riot occured recently in Semporna?
Verdict:
FALSE
The video showing an altercation between enforcement officers and illegal hawkers in Sabah's Semporna district that went viral on social media this past weekend actually occurred last year, said district police chief Supt Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah.
He said police had investigated the case and arrested two people for obstructing a public servant from carrying out their duties under Section 186 of the Penal Code in the incident that occurred at Lorong Chan Chuan Kee in Semporna at about 9.45am on March 23 last year.
He said a case under the Minor Offences Ordinance for obstructing the enforcement officers was registered with the Semporna Magistrate's Court on May 2 last year against two suspects – a local, Al Kaisir Almidu, and a Filipino, Firdaus Lauhari, who was holding an Immigration document (IMM13) for refugees.
However, he said the court subsequently issued a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) after the duo did not turn up in court and the subpoenas could not be served on them.
Mohd Farhan said the incident was triggered after enforcement officials seized goods on sale by the illegal hawkers and this led to the altercation, which was then reported to police.
The 1min, 11sec video of the incident resurfaced on Instagram on Saturday (Sept 16).
The video showed some hawkers aggressively pushing enforcement officers in a tense standoff.
