Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has urged all quarters to exercise caution with regard to obtaining funds from foreign sources.

The police chief cited Bersih and women's group Empower, which are being investigated concerning funds from Open Society Foundations (OSF), founded by billionaire George Soros.

"I feel that if we are citizens who love our country, we must be careful with who we are dealing with. Particularly, foreign organisations.

"It can't be that Bersih and Empower do not know what is OSF? Or other organisations for that matter. I do not want to mention (names), but there are other organisations," he told a press conference in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur, this morning.

"We know many countries do not wish to deal with OSF. Take Russia for example. Russia has banned OSF from operating in their country. Why? There must be a reason.

"We, on the other hand, invite them, groups or NGOs which are suspicious, to work with us," he added.

Reiterating his call to be cautious, Khalid also revealed that police are monitoring other NGOs.

"I do not discount the possibility of others being arrested soon, if needed. We are updating evidence and information. When it is sufficient, we will take action." 

Meanwhile, Khalid confirmed that police yesterday raided Empower's office in Petaling Jaya under Section 124C of the Penal Code over alleged links with the OSF.

Section 124C is related to attempts to carry out activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Responding to claims by Empower staff that they were "locked up" in their office during the raid, Khalid meanwhile said it was normal procedure for the police to do so.

"That is normal procedure... When we want to seize certain things, we want those present there to remain present to witness whatever we recover from that office.

"Else they will accuse us of stealing their things," he said.

"So we did lock them up.

"We needed them to be there to witness whatever we are doing and to answer whatever questions that may arise during the process of searching the office," he explained.

Police raided Bersih's office on Nov 18 under Section 124C as well, and detained its chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah for 10 days under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).