KUALA LUMPUR: Police have confirmed that no arrests were made on a group of Rohingya refugees who gathered outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office here recently.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Fadil Marsus said the group was checked for documentation purposes.
"They were not detained and no arrests were made, but only checked and transferred to the Kuala Lumpur contingent headquarters for documentation purposes and released,” he said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 2).
The explanation was issued to correct an international media report claiming that the group was arrested as soon as they arrived in the capital by bus after being evicted from their settlement in Penang.
On July 29, Comm Fadil said that the group would be transferred in stages to three states as stated by non-governmental organisations and UNHCR.
In a related development, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Myanmar government agreed to accept about 5,000 Rohingya refugees currently in Malaysia thanks to negotiation and bilateral ties.
As of the end of February, there are about 126,000 Rohingya refugees reportedly registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. — Bernama
