PUTRAJAYA: A total of 2,675 Rohingya detainees currently under custody in 12 immigration detention centres in the peninsula will be separated into smaller groups to prevent them from becoming aggressive.
Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said this was necessary as the authorities have found that the Rohingya community, when placed in a large number in a single depot, has the propensity to turn aggressive.
He said this was among the immediate steps taken to update the standard operating procedures in the depots following the escape of 131 detainees from the Bidor depot yesterday, which took place after a riot broke out.
"They (the Rohingya) will be separated. We have 12 depots in the peninsula. They will be split up into smaller groups with other detainees.
"They can be aggressive. We don't want too many of them in a single block so we are mixing them with detainees from other nationalities," he said at a press conference here today.
Ruslin said, in the aftermath of the Bidor incident, the department is now reviewing the SOP to prevent any recurrences.
He said the department has also moved quickly by tightening security in all detention depots, as well as increasing the number of personnel.
To a question on whether depot personnel would be provided with weapons, Ruslin replied that the idea is being considered.
A total of 131 illegal immigrants, comprising 115 Rohingya and 16 Myanmar nationals, had on Thursday night broken out of the depot in Bidor.
One of the detainees, however, died in a traffic accident along KM335 of the North-South Expressway.
Efforts to track down the remaining detainees are underway.
