INSPECTOR-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid Ismail has confirmed that officers and personnel assigned to a lock-up facility at the Ipoh District Police Headquarters have been suspended from duty following the discovery of prohibited items including narcotics, mobile phones and sharp weapons inside a detention cell.
The revelation has prompted an immediate integrity probe by the Royal Malaysia Police amid concerns over security failures and possible misconduct within police detention facilities.
Speaking during a press conference at Bukit Aman, Mohd Khalid said the force had swiftly directed the Integrity and Standards Compliance Department to carry out a full investigation into the incident.
“Follow-up action has also been carried out together with the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department and several related departments to ensure that similar incidents do not recur,” he said.
The Inspector-General of Police added that all state police chiefs and district police chiefs nationwide had now been instructed to conduct comprehensive inspections at detention facilities under their supervision.
According to Mohd Khalid, district police chiefs were ordered to carry out periodic lock-up inspections to ensure security standards and monitoring systems remain at the highest level.
“All state police chiefs also have the authority to conduct inspections at lock-ups under their respective administrations,” he said.
“We are in fact constantly conducting investigations and operations. My directive to district police chiefs is to inspect lock-ups from time to time.”
While insisting that the overall condition of police lock-ups across the country remained under control, Mohd Khalid acknowledged that investigators had uncovered security weaknesses in the latest case.
“Overall, we see that the situation remains good and under control. However, in one recent case, investigations found there was a slight lapse when several prohibited items were discovered inside the lock-up,” he said.
The scandal emerged after a surprise late-night operation conducted by the Integrity and Standards Compliance Department of the Perak police contingent headquarters at the lock-up facility located within the Sentral Police Station under the Ipoh district police headquarters.
The raid, which took place from 9.30pm until 3am on Tuesday, was reportedly carried out following information received from members of the public.
Investigators initially focused on a cell housing four male detainees before discovering a Vivo smartphone concealed on the body of one of the prisoners.
Further searches conducted inside the cell in the presence of all detainees uncovered additional prohibited items, including narcotics and dangerous objects.
Police reportedly discovered a box labelled “Fire Sens” containing 22 transparent plastic packets believed to contain heroin weighing approximately 4.23 grams, along with another packet suspected to contain 1.6 grams of methamphetamine.
The discovery has intensified scrutiny over internal enforcement standards, lock-up supervision procedures and the smuggling of prohibited items into detention facilities under police custody. - May 15, 2026
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