Police are usually as those who are responsible for upholding the rule of law and maintaining order, but there are some who would bend the law in order to make a quick buck.
A tourist from China recently claimed that she was stopped by a police officer and extorted of RM200 after she was unable to produce her passport.
Stopped by police officer in KL
According to the video which was originally posted on Xiaohongshu but has since been deleted, the woman said that she was on her way back to the hotel at around 11pm after having dinner with friends on Mar 31.
The driver then noticed that a police car had been tailing them for quite some time and decided to pull over.
A police officer armed with a gun then walked over to the vehicle and asked the woman for her identification card (IC).
When asked where she was from, the woman told the officer that she was from China, prompting him to ask her for her passport.
Unfortunately, the woman had left her passport at the hotel and offered to show her driver’s license and other identification documents instead.
However, the officer said no and insisted on seeing her passport along with an immigration stamp issued by the Malaysian authorities or else she would have to follow him to the police station.
The woman claimed that she tried to contact the China embassy several times but to no avail.
Asked for RM200 in bribes
After the failed calls, the taxi driver told the woman that the police officer wanted money from her. However, she didn’t have any with her and the driver offered to lend her whatever cash he had on hand, which was RM200.
When the officer asked for an additional RM100, a friend of the woman began conversing with him in Malay, where he eventually realised that they had no more money to give and let them go after taking the RM200.
The experience has left the woman rather puzzled, where she has not encountered something like this in other countries.
My Malaysian friends told me that in such situations, the police will bring you to an ATM to withdraw cash if you don’t have any on you.
“However, if you’re unwilling to give them money, they’ll take you to the police station and lock you up for a night,” she said.
She also added that she normally leaves her passport at the hotel to prevent it from getting lost and now learnt that she has to have it with her while overseas.
The police have yet to issue a statement over the incident at the time of writing.
Watch the clip here:
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