(Updated) Suspect picked up in Pastor Koh abduction case

KUALA LUMPUR: Police last week picked up a suspect in connection with the abduction of Pastor Raymond Koh.
In confirming this, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the suspect was picked up at a northern state of the country and said the arrest was done to facilitate investigations into Koh's abduction.
"We picked up a local and I would like to stress here that there is no truth to the claims that the case is not being investigated.
"Every angle of the case is being focused on," he told reporters after launching a blood donation programme here in Bukit Aman police headquarters here today.
Khalid added that Koh is also being investigated for proselytising as there were police reports lodged against him on this.
"We are also looking whether there is a connection between the claims of Koh's alleged proselytising and his abduction.
"Since there are reports against him, the police have to be fair to investigate his alleged offence and his abduction," he said.
Khalid added that investigations were hampered due to the publicity it received earlier.
"I have said this many times previously – please do not speculate or create unnecessary publicity on this case as it will hamper our work. Let us conduct our probe," he said.
Previously, police detained a man in Ampang who demanded a ransom for allegedly kidnapping Koh.
However, it turned out to be a hoax and the man has since been charged in court.
On Tuesday, Koh's wife, Susanna Liew, expressed her disappointment with police for investigating her husband's alleged proselytising instead of solving his abduction.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Koh's family said: "The Koh family is following closely these public statements by the police about this arrest that they claim they made last week. They wish to reserve comment until they get more substantial information on this. For the record, the family states that up to now, no one from the police has informed them about this arrest that apparently happened last week. Like the Malaysian public, this is the first time they have heard about it. It is unusual that there was no announcement of this at the time of the suspect's arrest last week."
On a related matter, Khalid said police are also investigating a group for alleging the authorities are involved in several cases of missing activists.
Khalid said the matter is being investigated under Section 504 (b) of the Penal Code, which deals with intentional insult to provoke a breach of the peace.
"This is a serious allegation and we will not allow them to take this opportunity to make baseless accusations.
"If you have evidence, bring it to the police and we will take action. Don't try to 'spin' the situation by making it seem as though the authorities are involved," he said.
The activist group, known as Citizen Action Group On Enforced Disappearance (CAGED), had previously claimed that the cases of missing persons like Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth, social activist Amri Che Mat, and Koh, were "enforced disappearances", a term used for abduction by state agents.
The activists, Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy, Engage chairman Thomas Fann and Bersih 2.0 Special Committee member Rama Ramanathan said they had been called up by police to give a statement in regards to the formation of the group.
Fann said CAGED aims to pressure the government to inform the public on any information or updates from the police on such missing persons cases.
Koh, 62, was abducted on Feb 13 by a group of masked men less than 100m from a police housing complex in SS4, Kelana Jaya. Meanwhile, on a separate issue, Khalid broke his silence over the recent arrests of policemen and senior officers for suspected graft nationwide by confirming the police force can expect a major reshuffle.
He said the first phase of the reshuffle has been conducted and added that more officers would be transferred in the coming weeks.
"The police force will look at what happened in a positive way and the police's Integrity and Compliance Department (JIPS) will take necessary action against alleged officers if needed," he added.
On allegations that lower-ranking policemen were "forced" to take bribes from an illegal gambling racket in order to entertain their superiors, Khalid said that such a culture did not exist in the police force.
Since the launch of the Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commission operation on May 16, 13 individuals including civilians who allegedly facilitated the pay out of bribes to the police were nabbed.
In the meantime, 16 police officers and cops from Bukit Aman narcotics crime investigation department have also been nabbed for colluding with drug trafficking syndicates.