Over 40 Chins Arrested in Series of RELA Raid in Malaysia

By Salai Za Uk Ling – 5 April 2007 – Kuala Lumpur: Over 40 Chins were arrested in a series of raid conducted by RELA in and around Kuala Lumpur today. At around 9 a.m. this morning RELA rounded up a market in Pudu Pasar arresting nearly 30 Chin workers and shop-goers, including 6 persons with UNHCR cards. Among them were two nursing mothers with a three-month and two-month old babies respectively. The babies were left at home with their fathers at the time of arrest.

In a separate incident, six Chins were arrested at a worksite in Kajang after a round-up by RELA at around 2:00 a.m. this morning. Speaking on a mobile phone from inside a prison lorry, one detainee said they were being taken to Lenggeng detention camp where they will await deportation. Lenggeng is one of the many detention centers with serious problems of overcrowding.

At around 1:30 this morning, five Chin refugees were arrested by police at Cheras Maluri in Kuala Lumpur. Three of them who have UNHCR cards were later released from police lock-up.

Since the beginning of 2007, Malaysia’s intensifying crackdown on “illegal immigrants” has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of refugees from Burma. The Chin community alone reported the arrest of more than 400 persons in a three-month period.