KUCHING: The police are going to discipline several personnel for allegedly not doing anything to stop a young man from being beaten up at the Kuching One-Stop Centre last week.

Police Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh said local police were conducting an internal investigation which included recording statements from crime reporters assigned to the One-Stop Centre.

“Statements of those who witnessed the incident are being recorded, including from reporters on duty that night. We are conducting an internal investigation on the incident,” he told reporters here yesterday.

In the incident that happened on the morning of Nov 17, a group of men went to the One-Stop Centre in Simpang Tiga and beat up a youth who was lodging a police report.

Earlier, the youth had a fight with a group outside a nightclub in Jalan Mendu.

The men, who beat up the youth inside the One-Stop Centre, also forced him to retract his police report.

It is alleged that three police personnel on duty did nothing to stop the beating.

It is said that the suspects also threatened several reporters at the scene.

Two suspects with previous criminal records have so far been arrested for alleged involvement in the case and the police are looking for other suspects, who are still at large.

On another matter, Mohmad said disciplinary action would also be taken against several other personnel for the ‘slack’ and slow response to calls made to the Kuching police hotline during flash floods that hit the city last weekend.

This comes about following claims reported in Chinese dailies that several calls made to the hotline went unanswered while the mobile police vehicle (MPV) personnel took longer than usual to reach those flooded places.

“If there is truth in the claims and if the particular officers on duty were slack, I will take disciplinary action against them. But first, we have to find out what really happened,” he said.

On the Nov 22 murder at Mile 6 Penrissen Road here, he said the police were still investigating the case.

He, however, could not confirm claims that the alleged murderers were a group of armed forces personnel.

The body of Safarul Azizi Saubi, 23, was found near the traffic light, and according to a witness, Safarul was bashed up by a group of men with helmets.

Earlier, Mohmad witnessed the handing over of duties for the new head of Sarawak commercial crime investigations department at the state police contingent headquarters in Jalan Badruddin here.

Supt Mohd Firdaus Abdullah @ Vincent takes over from Supt Willy Richard as the new head of department.

Firdaus, a Bidayuh from Kuching, was formerly attached to the police college in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

Willy is being is transferred to the Bukit Aman police headquarters to head the commercial crime investigations (co-operative).

Mohmad, in his speech said he hoped the state’s commercial crime investigations department would improve service delivery system by acting faster on reports lodged by the public.

“After all, the number of commercial crime cases in Sarawak is not that many (compared to other states), and is still at manageable level,” he said.