MACC arrests 12 enforcement personnel including two cops

PETALING JAYA: Two police inspectors, both officers-in-charge of police stations (OCS), were among 12 enforcement personnel arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today for allegedly accepting bribes from illegal massage centres to look the other way on their activities in two districts in Selangor.
Apart from the police inspectors who are heads of two police stations in Selangor, the others were five rank-and-file police personnel, four firemen and a Kajang municipal council officer.
They were detained in simultaneous raids at about 9am in Kajang, Sungai Buloh and Kampung Pandan.
Sources revealed that following a three-month surveillance, the MACC learnt that the suspects, aged between 26 and 53, had allegedly received between RM300 and RM10,000 from operators of each illegal massage centre for turning a blind eye to the activities.
Apart from allowing the centres to carry out their business, the suspects had also not taken action on illegal foreign workers and fire hazards found at the premises.
MACC investigators also recovered RM25,000 from the office and home of a police inspector who was nabbed.
It is learnt that the surveillance also uncovered clandestine vice dens in a number of the illegal centres but the operators were unperturbed by enforcement by the authorities as they had "bought up" those entrusted to clamp down on such activities.
Sources said apart from the crime of soliciting bribes, the act of providing "protection" for such centres by enforcement officers had also led to the mushrooming of immoral activities in such centres.
MACC director of investigations Datuk Simi Abd Ghani who confirmed the arrests said the suspects will be taken to the Shah Alam court today for investigators to obtain a remand order on them.