Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: The Chinese government today handed over a list of 100 names of suspected Chinese national criminals to the Home Ministry.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also Home Minister, said the individuals were believed to be involved in terrorism, telecommunication fraud, drugs and cross border crime in the country and China and suspected to be in Malaysia and ASEAN.
He said the Royal Malaysian Police would investigate, detain and repatriate the suspects if found.
“China has shared their list with us; we need to investigate whether the suspects are in Malaysia.
“The Chinese national suspects not only chose Malaysia as a hideout, they are also operating in ASEAN countries,” he told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from China’s Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun and his delegation who are on a three-day visit here since Wednesday.
Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia repatriated 134 Chinese detainees to Beijing in 2014, 2015 and 2016 on an aircraft sent by China to Kuala Lumpur.
On whether Malaysia had reciprocated by giving its list to China, Zahid replied in the affirmative but declined to reveal the figure.
He said as at Dec 31 last year, 248 Malaysians were serving prison sentences in China for various offences such as credit card forgery and cross border crime.
“Malaysia has taken a number of steps to implement the International Transfer of Prisoners.
“We are also confident that Malaysians who deserve it, would be repatriated, followed by further detention and legal action if they had committed a crime in this country,” he said.
On the Third Joint Working Group Meeting between Malaysia and China, Ahmad Zahid said both sides had agreed on 16 issues, among them, exchange of intelligence information on cross border crime and anti-terrorism to enhance bilateral cooperation.
“This is done so that the Chinese government would provide us information on Malaysians in China or other regions there, who are involved in gambling syndicates, drugs and crime. This also includes sharing of intelligence information on terrorists,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia had coordinated with China on a number of occasions to extradite to the latter to face prosecution, not less than 100 syndicate members involved in the Macau Scam which swindled a total of RM10 billion out of unwitting investors in Malaysia, China and other countries.
He said Malaysia and China had also agreed to strengthen cooperation between their police force through joint operations, communication exchange and information intelligence as well as training programmes and capacity reinforcement.
Also during the meeting, Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia had set a target of three million tourists from China this year following the introduction by the government of the visa waiver or eNTRI (electronic travel registration & information) facility in March last year.
“Chinese tourist arrival increased from 1.1 million in 2015 to 2.2 million in 2016. Malaysia is also coordinating with low-cost carriers in China to facilitate access for Chinese tourists to come to Malaysia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid also disclosed that Malaysia and China would exchange information and take stern action against drug traffickers and synthetic drug manufacturers in the golden triangle that borders Myanmar. – Bernama