What’s up with the 3am arrest?

KUALA LUMPUR: The 3am arrest of Kedah caretaker Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor may seem excessive to some, but police said he was nabbed at the time because he could not be reached before then.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said police made multiple attempts to contact him and his special officers to inform him of the impending charges he was to face at the Selayang Court Complex, but he did not pick up his phone.

“We called him, his personal secretary and his political secretary, but the calls were rejected.

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“Initially, we contacted Kedah police to track him down, but they informed us that he was not in the state.

“Based on further checks he was supposed to make an appearance at Astro Awani at 10pm last night as well, but he was a no-show there, too.

“We started trying to contact him yesterday evening to inform him about the charges, but all our calls to him were rejected,” the IGP said in Bukit Aman yesterday.

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He said the issue that Muhammad Sanusi raised about not being told about the charges only occurred because he refused to pick up his phone.

“Since we could not reach him, we tried to find him and found him at 2.30am at Mont Kiara.

“He was arrested to ensure that he attended court to hear the charges against him,” he said.

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Razarudin added that because Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act was a seizable offence, police could conduct arrests as and when necessary.

Muhammad Sanusi was arrested at 3am yesterday, according to his political secretary Hilmi Abd Wahab.

A video posted on social media showed Muhammad Sanusi being surrounded by plainclothes policemen, and Hilmi said a group of 20 policemen had waited outside his hotel room before he was taken to the Gombak police headquarters.

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He was then sent to the Selayang Sessions Court where he pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Sedition Act over a political speech he made on July 11.

Meanwhile, constitutional expert Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi said Articles 5 (1), (3) and (4) of the Federal Constitution provided such power to the authorities should there be a reasonable suspicion of an “arrestable offence.”

“As long as it is under the ‘arrestable offence’ category, there is no requirement for the person to either be a flight risk or a terrorist. He can be arrested at any time.

“However, after the arrest, there are procedural rights available to the arrestee where he must be given the grounds for the arrest, it must be done in a reasonably precise manner, he must be allowed legal representation of his choice, and the arrestee must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Prof Shad Saleem said the requirement for the person being arrested to be brought before a magistrate within the first 24 hours was to ensure that the person could apply for bail, provided it’s a bailable offence.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also said the authorities have the power to make such an arrest.

“That’s the right of enforcement agencies and they have the power to make an arrest at any time 24/7,” he said during a press conference at an event in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“In my opinion, the prosecution was made because the AGC (Attorney General’s Chambers) has a strong case, so if he is innocent, the court is the best platform to answer all the accusations and defend himself,” he added.

However, Pakatan Harapan’s Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin said Muhammad Sanusi’s arrest should have been handled in a more practical manner.

“Muhammad Sanusi is a mentri besar. He’s not a suspect who ran away. The arrest could have been done in the morning or in the evening,” he said in a statement yesterday.