61 Rohingya fugitives still at large, Dewan Rakyat told

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 61 Rohingya detainees who escaped from the Sungai Bakap Immigration Detention Depot in Kedah in April last year are still at large, the Dewan Rakyat was told.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said efforts by the authorities to track down the 61 are ongoing.

The 61 were part of the 528 who escaped from the immigration depot in Kedah in April last year.

Saifuddin said the police have rearrested 461 of them, which consisted of 331 adults and 130 children, adding that six detainees died in a road accident while escaping.

Saifuddin said those who were rearrested were transferred to another immigration depot.

“The police have completed investigations and all detainees involved will be charged in court soon,” said Saifuddin.

Saifuddin was responding to Syerleena Abdul Rashid (PH-Bukit Bendera) who asked about the latest updates on the incident in Kedah last year.

In the pre-dawn incident on April 20 last year, 528 Rohingya detainees broke out of the detention depot after a protest turned into a riot.

Six of them, however, were killed after they were hit by a vehicle while attempting to escape on an expressway.