MIRI: Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin once again highlighted the need for Miri Central Police station (CPS) to be upgraded to better serve the community.
This call was made following a rape incident that was reported to have occurred in the Miri police station lock-up recently.
In the incident, a 16-year-old female detainee was allegedly raped by a male detainee while under police custody on Jan 9.
The victim was detained for her alleged involvement in illegal online gambling activity, the day before the alleged incident occurred.
“I urge the federal government to include this proposal into the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP),” said Lee during a press conference on Monday (Jan 18).
In 2018, Lee who was the Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture at that time, had also proposed for the existing police station building to be upgraded into a bigger space with better facilities.
The CPS building has remained the same since the 1950s.
“The city (Miri) has grown and now with a population more than 300,000, we need better facilities to allow greater efficiency in police operations,” he said.
“I hope the federal government and Bukit Aman would give serious consideration to the proposal,” he said.
Meanwhile, current Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting pointed out that the lock-up standard operating procedures need to be relook at in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Also present during the press conference were Miri Acting Resident Abdul Aziz Yusuf and Miri mayor Adam Yii.
