Kelantan police: No evidence linking Rohingya community to serious crime

KOTA BHARU, July 9 — Kelantan Police have so far not detected any involvement by the Rohingya community in serious criminal activities in the state.

State police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said police records showed that more than 5,000 members of the Rohingya community in Kelantan held United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards, while an estimated 8,000 others were undocumented or in detention.

“We are monitoring their activities. So far, we have not detected any involvement of the community in serious crimes. About 500 criminal cases involving the community have been recorded, but most of them are related to disputes among themselves.

“The most serious case recorded was rape, which was reported to have occurred within the community itself,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Commenting on reports about the appointment of Rohingya community leaders in the state, he said it was not recognised by any authority in the country.

“That was just an internal arrangement within their own minority community. They are foreign refugees and are not recognised by the authorities, including the the Registrar of Societies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Yusoff said police would collaborate with local authorities to conduct operations and monitoring to prevent the misuse of business licences by foreigners. — Bernama