PETALING JAYA, May 18 — Ranking officers in Bukit Aman have been implicated over a protection racket syndicate in Melaka involving gambling dens and massage parlours.
A middleman in his early 50s who claimed to be “well connected to Bukit Aman officials” had allegedly acted as the conduit between federal police officers and top police officers in the state.
Money collected from illegal gaming and massage parlours in the state were channelled to Bukit Aman personnel, said sources in the thick of investigation.
It was understood the collection was done in a systematic manner, involving officers from police stations who collected the money on behalf of the district chiefs.
“The middleman owns several restaurants and popular food and beverage franchise outlets and claims to know ranking police officers in Bukit Aman,” said the source.
Nine suspects — including Melaka Tengah district police chief Asst Comm Shaikh Abdul Adzis Shaikh Abdullah, Jasin district police chief DSP Sakri Yusof and four other policemen have been implicated and were remanded for six days yesterday for allegedly protecting vice dens there.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission seized RM186,000 in cash and found RM459,000 in bank accounts belonging to the nine suspects.
The policemen allegedly collected between RM2,000 and RM10,000 each a month, depending on the size of the outlet, and passed the cash to the middleman.
There was a monthly deadline and outlets that could not pay upfront would negotiate their “deal” with the cops. Those collecting the money would usually expect “ang pows” during Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.
“He claims the money would then be channelled to ranking police officers in Bukit Aman. We are investigating the claims,” said the source.
Investigators believed 10 to 20 cops were involved in the racket.
“We were informed about the matter after several policemen in the state said they were pressured to collect money from their officers. It came to a point that they could not take it anymore,” the source revealed.
“We believe this has been going on for about a year or two. Those who refused to collect money were threatened by the middleman or their officers that they would be transferred out of the state.
“The officers, including the two district police chiefs, led moderate lifestyles.”
The source said there were “quite a number of illegal gaming centres and massage parlours” in Melaka Tengah and Jasin districts.
MACC had also identified and spoken to three illegal gaming outlet operators and were tracking down the rest.
Shaikh, Sakri and an inspector from the state police contingent headquarters were brought to the magistrate’s court in Putrajaya yesterday and remanded until Monday.
Earlier yesterday, two ASPs, another inspector, the middleman and two others were also remanded for six days.
The suspects, aged between 31 and 54, were being investigated under Section 16 and 17 of the MACC Act 2009.
