TASEK GELUGOR: Penang police believe the two detainees, Hamzani Harun, 37, and Hisham Abdul Rahman, 39, who escaped from police custody while being brought to a Butterworth court recently are still in the country.
State police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said based on information received, they were said to be hiding in several areas to avoid police detection.
“They are now out of the operation area of Permatang Pauh but have not got out of the country. They are believed to be still hiding in Penang or nearby,” he told reporters after launching the Excellent Student Personality programme at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Al-Irshad, here, yesterday.
He said the state police were still carrying out ‘Ops Kesan Gelugor’ in tracking the two men and the police contingents in other states were also cooperating in this effort.
In the incident at 9am on Jan 7, nine detainees on their way from Penang Prison to the court in Butterworth escaped by seizing the police van they were travelling in and hitting and throwing out four police escorts.
Two of them were recaptured near the police van which was abandoned in Kampung Padang Chempedak, Tasek Gelugor while two more, Mohd Fairuz Adam, 31, and Mohd Noor Mustafa, 28, were shot dead after attempting to flee in a car and shooting at police in Kampung Padang Ibu, Bukit Mertajam, near here, on Jan 10.
Two days later, police detained Mohd Farid Akhtar, 24, at a foodstall in Kampung Petani, Kubang Semang while Mohd Shahrimi Mohd Noor, 28, gave himself up at the Penanti market and Mohd Khairulnizam Abdul Rani, 26, was caught in an internet cafe in Berapit, Bukit Mertajam.
Abdul Rahim also said that a police sergeant who was in charge of security in the incident had been suspended for not adhering to the police standard operating procedure.
He said the four police escorts were still being investigated and would face disciplinary action if they were found to be negligent.
In another development, he said police had identified several more members of a baby-selling syndicate in the northern region of the peninsula.
He said police were only waiting for the right time to detain the remaining syndicate members as they had to ensure the safety of the babies and children believed to be still under the syndicate’s care.
Penang police recently uncovered a baby-selling syndicate and arrested 33 individuals aged between 23 and 52 years to assist in the investigation.
Meanwhile, he said police had taken precautionary measures following a death threat on South Korean singer Park Jae Sang, or better known as Psy, during his visit to the state for a Chinese New Year celebration performance last Monday.
He said Psy’s manager, Dan had sent an SMS text to police on the night of Feb 10 on the death threat.
“After receiving the SMS, we set up a special team comprising 11 police officers to protect Psy and provided tight security for the singer. We want the singer to be safe in Penang as it involved a death threat,” he said.
Abdul Rahim was commenting on news reports last Thursday which said that Penang police confirmed receiving information on the death threat on the singer, internationally popular with the song, ‘Oppa Gangnam Style’. — Bernama