KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — The Sentul Police District headquarters turned into a collection hub for humanitarian aid yesterday as officers assisted in loading five tons of items into two containers intended for Rohingya migrants at the Belantik Detention Camp in Sik, Kedah.

Head of Sentul Department Crime Prevention and Community Safety, ASP Edmond Wong said he and his men were happy to contribute to the effort.

They were approached by Forces of Love (FOL) who suggested using the station as the collection point for its donation drive.

He said this was not a directive but part of a community effort and demonstrated the force was versatile enough to help with humanitarian efforts.

“I just helped organise this effort but the credit goes to Sentul Head of Police ACP R. Munusamy who gave the approval for us to participate,” he said.

FOL senior committee member Lynn Yee said there were about 1,100 Rohingya migrants in Belantik including 404 children.

“They have enough food, but lack everything else as they came with only the clothes on their backs. The donations we have collected are mainly personal items such as toiletries, blankets towels and clothing.

“We only accepted new clothing and limited food items to milk powder and biscuits, as we are aware they have no means to cook,” she said.

FOL is a coalition of friends and donors that collected and sent aid to Thailand during the 2011 floods, the East coast during the recent floods, and to Nepal after the earthquake.

The logistic support required to transport the items from the donation drive in Selangor to Alor Star is being handled by Seagull Logistics Sdn Bhd.

Its managing director Sally Chan said: “When I announced we were handling all transportation costs, donations started pouring in.”

Apart from the two containers that were sent yesterday Chan said the company was willing to send a truckload every week as long as donations came in.

Representatives from the Council of Churches in Malaysia, the Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple of Kuala Lumpur and Thai Buddhist Chetawan Temple were also present.

Eunice Khoo said humanitarian efforts transcend race and religion.

“Every human being has a right to food, shelter and security. It is heart warming to see people of different races working together,” said Khoo.

Buddhist monk Karananda Dhammissare from Sri Lanka said: “Religion plays no role when it comes to helping one another, people need to focus on common values.

“It is the focus on differences that has brought on the crisis.”