NO police officers were in cahoots with human trafficking syndicates involved in migrant jungle camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis, reported The New Straits Times today.

In a response to the English daily’s Probes Team, Bukit Aman said there was no evidence that police officers had an alliance with the syndicates.

“There is no evidence to show there had been any police officers who were in cahoots with the syndicates in this particular case,” said Bukit Aman when asked if the suspected police officers were being dealt with legally or are being internally “disciplined”.

The federal police said the camp was destroyed to prevent other migrants from entering the site and to be used as their base. 

“The camp was destroyed out of the order of the deputy chief of Perlis police (deputy CPO) as a preventive measure to avoid other migrants from entering or re-entering the area and using it as their base. It was not necessary for us to preserve the area/not to destroy the camp because the assessment of the case then was of immigration offences. The main intent of the destruction of the camp was not for it to be used as a base for the migrants,” they said. 

They also said four reports were made about the raids in Bukit Wang Burma on January 19 and Bukit Genting Perah on March 13, 2015, but those reports were not revealed due to security reasons. 

“Nothing had been kept a secret,” they said, in response to the 17 questions raised by the News Straits Times. 

The New Straits Times claimed to have discovered new evidence on the case after a two-year investigation that suggested a large-scale and coordinated cover-up.

The expose alleged that the camps had been discovered in January 2015 but the police only announced the discovery on May 25.

Bukit Aman said they were not kept in the dark over the discovery of the camp when the camps were found by the police before May. 

“The NST expose has brought to light certain matters in the issue that were not revealed at the time due to security reasons. However, after the discovery of another camp in May 2015, both Thailand and Malaysia police decided to conduct a full-scale investigation of probable human trafficking activities.

“Therefore, Bukit Aman was never kept in the dark over the discovery,” they said, adding that meetings were held after the raid on January 19 but could not be revealed. 

They said 300 VAT69 commandos were sent on a mission on May 11 to the area to “conduct an extensive comb-off the terrain in Genting Perah” with their Thai counterparts, who had also combed the areas within their border.

“Besides, they were also tasked to identify and mark the mass graves at the location, in addition to the fact that it was a standard approach by the team to ensure the areas were cleared of any booby traps/security threats before they were handed over to the investigation team.”

These commandos were deployed because of their expertise in such a location “and situation that no ordinary police personnel could operate”, said Bukit Aman.

When asked if Perlis police knew of the camps that were still in operation after their raid on January 19, Bukit Aman said that the camp was still operating until the raid on the said day as after that, the camps were “no longer populated”.

“The information that the camps were vacated three weeks prior to May 25 was false because the sites were constantly under the control of the GOF (General Operations Force),” it added. 

The National Human Rights Society (Hakam) had demanded that Putrajaya answer questions raised over the Wang Kelian death camps while lawyer groups had called for a royal commission of inquiry on the alleged cover-up.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low said the police must start an internal investigation into the case to restore public confidence.

“Such incidents shouldn’t have happened. They undermine public trust and confidence in the police as an institution responsible for the protection of citizens and non-citizens in the country.

“The police themselves must launch their own investigation. Who is involved? Were the officers and syndicates working together?  Why are there discrepancies in (the police’s internal reports)?” he said on Thursday.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Norashid Ibrahim had said police had never stopped investigations into the camps and that the probe was ongoing. – December 24, 2017.