IGP: 'I know who 'Yassin' is'

The police have identified a people-smuggling syndicate agent who is purportedly the culprit for human trafficking cases in Wang Kelian, Perlis.

Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the police are currently investigating on the individual known as ‘Yassin’ before he would be brought to book.

“For your information, among the Rohingya, ‘Yassin’ is a common name… like ‘Aung’ for non-Muslims. For Muslims, it is ‘Yassin’.

“So, we know who he (Yassin) is. Let us investigate further,” he told newsmen after attending a rank installation ceremony for senior police officers and handing over of duties of the Integrity and Standard Compliance Department (JIPS) director and JIPS Police Family Association (Perkep) chairman here, Tuesday.

Khalid said, the police would not hesitate to act against those involved in people-smuggling and human trafficking crimes.

Rohingya Society in Malaysia Kedah branch chairman, Mohd Noor Abu Bakar before this had alleged that several syndicate agents were using the nickname ‘Yassin’ to avoid being detected by authorities.

On the involvement of local enforcement officers in human smuggling and trafficking, Khalid stressed that there would be no compromise in punishing those involved.

“I’ve said before this, we won’t compromise, we won’t allow for our enforcement officers to be involved. Let us gather the evidence first and investigate the matter,” he said.

The top cop before this had not discounted the possibility that local security forces including police officers could be involved in the human trafficking syndicates, which had caused the death of many refugees and immigrants of whose graves were recently unearthed in Wang Kelian.

On May 25, the VAT-69 had discovered 149 graves in various sizes in a 11 sq km area at the hills of Wang Kelian.