Myanmar nationals remain cool

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Myanmar nationals living near a house said to be where their countrymen were brutally butchered remain unperturbed over their places of residence.

Ram Chint, 22, said he never harboured any thoughts the secluded area could be the place for such madness.

He said he had lived peacefully in the area and nothing untoward had happened so far.

"I did not suspect anything bad was going on until I read the news," the factory worker told theSun today.

Agreeing with him was Sureh San, 22, who said he had no inkling what was going on as he had not seen or heard anything suspicious.

"I had no idea," the factory worked said when approached at the row of houses in Kampung Pisang, Machang Bubuk here.

Police on Friday raided the house where the killers are believed to have brought their victims before killing and dismembering them.

The authorities found the house empty during the operation but recovered three long machetes and had earlier detained two men to assist in investigations.

The two arrests brings to 17 the total number detained in connection to the 18 cases of murdered Myanmar nationals this year.

Police have not ruled out revenge as the motive behind the killings but are keeping things close to their chest, Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said police have solved eight cases with the arrests.

"I will reveal more this Thursday," he said but declined to elaborate further after attending a community programme at a supermarket here.

Meanwhile in BUTTERWORTH, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng commended the police for their efforts in solving the murders.

He said the police should be praised for the arrests in connection to the killings.

"Stern action must be taken against those responsible," he told reporters after visiting the site of a flood mitigation project in Jalan Raja Uda.