Detained after stopping thieves

I called a press conference last Sunday. A couple of gas cylinder delivery workers were detained by the police when the police did not believe in their earlier reports when they reported that three youths tried to cart awat several cylinders in Shah Alam.

New Straits Times has the story below:

PETALING JAYA: All they did was try to fend off thieves, but they ended up being detained in a police lock-up for three days.

Gas cylinder delivery workers Heng Chee Yong, 20, and Azizi Mahmud, 30, were on their rounds on Tuesday morning when they saw three youths trying to cart away several cylinders when they made a stop at the Section 28 food court in Shah Alam.

Heng chased away the would-be thieves with a PVC pipe and the two later lodged a report at the Section 11 police station in Shah Alam.

That evening, they received a call from a policeman asking them to return to the station.

They returned the following day and were arrested because the youths had lodged a report saying Heng had chased them with a parang.

On Friday, Heng's elder brother and his employer went to the station where they spoke to the investigating officer.

Heng claimed the officer asked his brother for an "ang pow", while another policeman asked for his pre-paid handphone to be topped up.

The brother and employer called state DAP legal bureau chief Lim Lip Eng, who went to see the acting district police chief, Superintendent Mohd Shariff Abdul Wahid.

Heng and Azizi were then released.

Shariff said an internal investigation had begun.