No charges against two Australians, will be deported: Sarawak CID (Updated)

KUCHING: Two Australian journalists who were detained for breaching security in an attempt to pose questions to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak during his official visit at a mosque here on Saturday were spared of court action yesterday and allowed to return to their country.
Sarawak police CID chief SAC Dev Kumar said today that the Attorney-General's Chambers had decided to drop the charge of "obstructing a public servant in discharging his duties" under the Penal Code against journalists Louie Eroglu and Linton Joshua Besser.
He said the foreigners would be deported to Australia under immigration laws soon after all essential paperwork is sorted out.
Dev Kumar said police had filed its investigation papers of the case with the Chambers on Monday.
Earlier, the journalists were ordered to present themselves at the Kuching magistrate's court in the morning apparently to face charges for the alleged offence, the charges against the duo was only dropped late yesterday by the Chambers.
Meanwhile, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the two journalists will not be barred from entering Malaysia in the future.
He however said that it is up to Sarawak to determine if the two newsmen from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Louie Eroglu and Linton Joshua Besser would be able to enter the state in the future after they were deported for violating immigration laws in the state.
“If they come back as tourists then there is no problem, (but) if they come back and break any laws then there will be a problem," he said when pressed by reporters at Parliament today.
He reiterated that the duo were deported for breaching immigration laws in Sarawak because they did not possess a valid work permit to be on duty in the state.
“The point is they actually have an understanding (on) how the laws governing journalistic work is applied in Sarawak.
“Immigration matters relating to Sarawak is under the Chief Minister and the state government. That's why the federal government does not interfere in matters relating to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
Levent and Besser of the ABC Four Corners programme were detained minutes after they were taken away by Najib's security personnel for crossing a security line at the event at Kota Sentosa here.
Its learned that they intended to question Najib on the millions in cash allegedly parked in the premier's personal bank account.
The journalists were held for questioning for six hours before being freed on bail but were disallowed from leaving Sarawak until police wrapped up its probe.