KL's streets cleaned for NAM summit

KL's streets cleaned for NAM summit

MALAYSIA: Drug addicts and the homeless will be swept off the streets of the Malaysian capital ahead of the upcoming Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, a top official said on Wednesday.

"We must rid the city of all negative elements," Mohmad Shaid Mohamad Taufek, Kuala Lumpur mayor, said at the reopening of an old jail that was refurbished at a cost of three million ringgit (US$789,500).

Malaysian Police chief Norian Mai said Pudu prison, located in the heart of the city, would house up to 1,000 drug addicts and vagrants who would be cleared from the streets ahead of the NAM summit.

Over the last three months, police have arrested 3,760 drug addicts in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

The summit, to be held on Feb. 20 to Feb. 25, will bring together leaders or their representatives from NAM's 114 member states. --AFP