Wang Kelian mass graves: Bukit Aman responds to NST
NST PROBES TEAM
New Straits Times24 December 2017
The New Straits Times’ expose on the Wang Kelian tragedy has ignited demands for answers. Five days after our first report came out, federal police have responded to the 17 burning questions raised by our Probes team. The Bukit Aman answers are verbatim.
Question: Why was the discovery of the camps in Bukit Wang Burma on Jan 19 and Bukit Genting Perah on March 13 kept secret?
Answer: Nothing had been kept secret. There were four (4) reports made about the raids at the said locations but they were not revealed due to security and operational reasons at that particular time. Investigations were carried out based on those reports.
Q: Where is ASP J.K. now? He was the one who led the Jan 19 raid and briefed his superiors about it the next day.
A: While we are not sure who ASP J.K is referred to in this question, but there was an ASP Joeking attached to Battalion 3, General Operations Force, Bidor in 2015 until to date. ASP Joeking had conducted a raid at the location on 19 January 2015 and lodged a police report thereof on the same day.
Q: Why did Perlis police issue the order to destroy the camp a day after the General Operations Force (GOF) reported the discovery? Who issued the order? Wouldn’t this be construed as tampering with evidence/crime scene?
A: The camp was destroyed out of the order of the Deputy Chief of Perlis Police (Deputy CPO) as a preventive measure to avoid other migrants from entering or re-entering the area and to use it as their base. It was not necessary for us to preserve the area / not to destroy the camp because the assessment of the case then was of immigration offences. The main intent of the destruction of the camp was not for it to be used as a base for the migrants.
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Rubbish is strewn on the floor of one of the huts used by the human trafficking ring in Bukit Genting Perah.
Q: How did the Perlis top cop, who was then close to retirement, or his deputy react when the discovery of the massive human trafficking camp and mass graves was brought to their attention?
A: The then Deputy CPO of Perlis was briefed about the discovery of the camp the next day when the migrants had already been handed over to the Immigration Department. It was out of this briefing that he subsequently ordered for the camp to be destroyed to avoid the camp from being used again by the migrants.
Q: Why was the camp not immediately cordoned off and the remains exhumed?
A: As a matter of fact, the whole area was declared as an operational zone after the discovery. The suspected graves were marked and would only be exhumed after all the operations in that area ceased. Only after the area was properly secured, would the investigation and forensics teams be allowed to enter. As a matter of fact, the area was not covered by the GOF before this because of the sensitivity of being very close to the border. In light of this, extra precautions had to be taken due to the steep terrain and the possibility of it being infested with explosive devices such as landmines / booby-traps. Therefore, the team took time to thoroughly comb-off the area and that was the reason why the bodies were not exhumed.
Q: What happened to the 38 migrants taken into custody by the assault team? Aren’t they prime witnesses?
A: All the 38 migrants were initially brought to Padang Besar Police Station for documentation. They were then taken by police trucks to the Immigration Depot in Sik and they became the responsibility of the Immigration Department.
