KL to combat foreign criminals

KL to combat foreign criminals

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian police have set up a task force to fight the rising number of crimes committed by immigrants, mostly from neighboring Indonesia, the official Bernama news agency reported on Sunday.

"As the activities of these gangs are getting more serious and were threatening lives and national security, the Criminal Investigations Department has formed a task force to tackle crimes committed by foreigners," deputy director Ramli Yusuf said last Saturday.

Malaysia is battling to contain a growing number of economic migrants from the region, and particularly Indonesia, which is a short sea-crossing away.

Bernama said statistics showed 3,458 cases of robbery involving foreigners were reported in Malaysia in 2000, compared with 2,970 cases in 1999 and 2,385 in 1998.

There were already 1,634 cases from January through May this year, said the agency without giving a breakdown of the nationalities involved.