Plainclothes police slap and rob pregnant woman

A pregnant woman was slapped and robbed by plainclothes police officers who broke into her shop in Sungai Buloh - and they then arrested her.

This morning, Segambut parliamentarian Lim Lip Eng, received a distress call from 36-year-old Chow Soo Meng, who is eight months pregnant.

She told him the police had stolen about RM20,000 in cash and several other items during the incident that happened on Monday.

"The police took several types of cigarettes, six bottles of hard liquor, mandarin oranges and three cartons of canned drinks," Chow said in her police report lodged at the Kepong police station.

She said the officers, from the Petaling Jaya Narcotics Department, also took 30 mobile SIM cards and removed the closed-circuit TV camera recorder from her shop.

None of the items have been returned. She said when she asked for the return of the RM20,000, the officer who arrested her refused to do so and told her not to make an issue of it or risk being rearrested, Lim told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The MP, who met with Chow this afternoon, said she had locked the grille door to her shop as she was alone from about 5pm on Monday, when about 10 men came about 6.30pm and demanded to be let in.

"When she refused to do so, they started yelling and cursing at her and they cut open the grille. They then handcuffed her and took her to the Damansara Utama police station," he said.

There, she was made to take a drug test before being taken to the Customs Department in Kelana Jaya and told that she had not paid the duties on the liquor and cigarettes.

"She was asked to return to the Customs Department office in Kelana Jaya on March 2," Lim added.

Chow said officers at the Kepong police station had also discouraged her from lodging her report, but relented when she insisted.

In her police report, Chow said the police had suspected that she was keeping narcotic drugs in her shop.

Investigations begin

Four officers from the Sungai Buloh station went to her shop this afternoon to begin investigations.

It is learnt that the matter has been passed to the Sungai Buloh station, since the incident took place in that police district.

Lim plans to visit the Damansara Utama police station on Friday morning to ask for Chow's complaint to be transferred to the Selangor contingent police headquarters.

He and Chow will also request that investigations be conducted by a team that is not from the Petaling Jaya police district, whose officers were allegedly responsible.

The investigating officer was not available for comment. - Malaysia Chronicle