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PETALING JAYA: A man recently claimed that two policemen in Johor Bahru attempted to extort money from him at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ).
The Star reported that the local man, who wanted to be known as Lim, said that the incident took place while travelling from Singapore on Tuesday (April 2) at around 10pm.
He claimed to have been stopped by two men in plain clothes claiming to be police officers who then took away his phone and passport after passing through the security clearance at BSI.
“They brought me to a premise inside BSI, which had the police emblem and tourism police logo, where it can only be entered using an access card,” he said during a press conference with Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li on Friday (April 5).
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Lim then recounted being placed in a room by the policemen for about 30 minutes and showed him their authorisation cards, with one of them claiming, as quoted from the report, that he was “serious trouble and would put me in a lockup before being brought to court the next day.”
“I told them that I could lose my job of 10 years in Singapore if I did not show up to work and asked them what offence did I do but they never answered my question,” he added.
However, Lim was told by one of the police officers that he would be released if he paid them RM2,000 but he told them that he does not have that amount of money in his Malaysian nor Singaporean bank accounts at his disposal.
“The two of them told me to show proof as they said I had been working in Singapore. I showed them my balance in my two accounts where I can only pay RM1,000.
ALSO READ: SG, M’sian women alleged police at Johor Bahru checkpoint demanded RM600 “fine”
“I was then instructed to follow one of them on a motorcycle to the nearest ATM machine located inside a nearby petrol station.
“But I could not withdraw the money, so the policeman brought me to another petrol station, which again I could not take out the money,” he said.
The policeman did not give up in trying to extort money from Lim and took him to a bank in Taman Pelangi to withdraw the money needed but he decided to pull an unexpected move and fake an asthma attack at a bus stop.
Fortunately, a couple going through the same path stopped to help Lim when they noticed his “asthma attack.”
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“The policeman then told the couple to help me as he needed to get back to his station. He accidentally dropped my mobile phone and passport before leaving,” he said
He did not give the money to the policemen in the end and has lodged a police report since.
Meanwhile, Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li asserted that a thorough investigation by the police should be made
Johor Bahru Selatan district police chief ACP Raub Selamat confirmed receiving Lim’s report and assured that the investigation is still ongoing.
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