Penang chief police officer Ayub Yaakob has defended the conduct of his force while carrying out a controversial vice raid of foreign women in Penang, who were chained and marked with pens after detention for alleged prostitution.

Ayub told Malaysiakini that last night's raid was a normal procedure, often involving a team from Bukit Aman who work hand-in-hand with the local police.

penang gro raid 030611 chain According to Ayub, certain raids were beyond the expertise of the Penang force as it was "technical in nature", and was difficult for the local police to infiltrate as their identities may be known by those being probed.

He added that secret raids by Bukit Aman police were usually carried out in highly protected places owned by 'unidentified key players' to ensure that the operation was not compromised before it happened.

On the chaining and marking of the women, Ayub said it was usually done to identify the individuals who were detained as many would be rounded-up during a raid.

He said the operation was an ongoing exercise, and that the police usually acted after receiving a deluge of complaints from the public.

Calls from wives spark police probe

Ayub added that this was not the kind of crime that the force would usually focus on, but it had to act after numerous complaints were lodged with the police.

The complaints to police came mostly from the wives of those who patronise such entertainment outlets.

penang gro raid 030611 chain "The wives usually make the calls to us at 3 or 4am when they can no longer take it that their husbands are wasting so much time and money in places like these and neglecting them and their children," Ayub said.

"If we do not act on these complaints, we would be perceived as being in cahoots with the owners of the vice dens," he stressed, explaining the police force's dilemma in such situations.

During the raid at a high-class nightclub in Pulau Tikus last night, eight locals and 30 foreign women - 29 Chinese and one from Vietnam - were nabbed by a team of 19 police officers from Bukit Aman.

Case stirs media attention

A flurry of protest from prominent NGO activists poured in after being alerted of the case, which was splashed all over Chinese newspapers.

penang gro raid 030611 news clipping The newspapers highlighted photos of the detained women, showing them chained up in a group and with various markings on their bodies, including an X mark on the forehead of one of those detained.

In response to the uproar created among human rights activists, Ayub invited those concerned to follow the police squad in their coming operation.

He asked the NGOs to consider the 'sentiments and feelings' of the wives and children of these patrons, saying, "imagine if that was your husband who frequented those nightclubs".

Ayub added that the situation reflects broader social ills in the area, where "money is spent buying or renting apartments for the foreign women while the children go hungry, or their fathers do not spend quality time at home."

"I urge them (NGOs) to have a bit of awareness of what is going on and not just to criticise us for doing our jobs," he said.

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