Cops confirm seven deaths in custody, one involved criminal element

 

The Royal Malaysia Police has confirmed that there have been seven cases of death in police custody and an investigation found that only one of them involved a criminal element.

Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department (JIPS) director Azri Ahmad said of the seven cases reported, four of them were deaths in lockups.

The other two cases involved death at the hospital and another died on the way to the hospital, he added.

He gave the assurance the Criminal Investigation Unit on Deaths in Custody (USJKT), set up under JIPS last January, would investigate all cases of death in police custody.

An investigation will be conducted transparently without any compromise, he told a special media conference in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.

Azri said the police had proposed that an integrated clinic be set up at police lockups to monitor the health of those in police custody.

He said under the current standard operating procedures, persons in police custody who had health problems would be referred to the nearest hospital.

There have been a few cases of custodial deaths in the past few weeks alone.

On Feb 2, a 38-year-old man who was detained at the Indera Mahkota central lock-up in Kuantan, Pahang died at the hospital.

On Jan 13, a 63-year-old man died at the Taiping district police headquarters lock-up in Perak.

Three days later, a 37-year-old man passed away at the Pengkalan Chepa lock-up police station in Kelantan.

On Jan 28, a 38-year-old man died at the Marang police station lock-up in Terengganu.

A day later, another detainee, also aged 38, died shortly after being detained by police in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

- Bernama