MARINE POLICE ATTACKED BY FOREIGN RICE SMUGGLERS

TUMPAT (Malaysia), March 27 (Bernama) -- A Pengkalan Kubor Marine police
team who tried to foil rice smuggling activities in Sungai Kaloi, Kuala Jambu
near here, were forced to call in General Operations Force (GOF) from Batallion
7 to combat about 30 smugglers, believed to be Thai nationals, who turned
violent.

Pengkalan Kubor Commanding officer, Deputy Supt Tan Cheng San said at
10.15pm, seven officers involved in "Operasi Octopus khas", cornered three boats
laden with glutinous rice, believed to be smuggled into the country.

"Acting on information, Marine police tailed two of the boats to their
purported destination. However, realising that they were being followed, three
suspects on one of the boats tried to attack the police boat with sticks," he
told Bernama here Thursday.

Police however, managed to overpower one boat and seized 54 bags of
glutinous rice while the others got away.

According to Tan, the three smugglers who were detained, however, managed to
jump into the river and swimmed to the other side of Sungai Golok and
immediately gathered about 27 men who jumped onto their boats in an attempt to
attack the police team.

"We were trapped while the assailants were ready to fire if we closed in on
them," he said.

He added that police had to call for back up from GOF who immediately
deployed a team of 20 officers, including Batallion 7 Commanding officer Mohd
Khalid Wahab, to the scene.

The quick arrival of GOF helped prevent any untoward incidents and we
managed to tow the seized boat and smuggled rice.

"The smugglers were probably hoping that by threatening police they would be
able to recover the seized rice bags because they were ready with an empty boat
when confronting us," he said.

--BERNAMA