SEA Games bus driver arrested over theft

SHAH ALAM: Police yesterday confirmed the arrest of a man who served as the Myanmar SEA Games women’s football team bus driver, after he was suspected to have stolen a watch from one of the Malaysian national football team officials.

Shah Alam district police chief ACP Shafien Mamat said police received a complaint about the lost watch, which was left on the national women’s football team bus at the UITM Stadium here at about 10pm on Thursday, before detaining the 26-year-old man.

“Police investigations found that the 2016 Special Rio Olympics edition Swatch watch was taken by the suspect. Police also recovered the watch from the bus that the suspect was driving,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Shafien said the suspect was being remanded until Sunday (August 20) and the case was being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft.

“The suspect is also being investigated under Section 26 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for not having a valid driving licence,” he said.

On Thursday, the arrest of the bus driver, which had caused a delay to the Myanmar women’s squad to return to their accommodation after a match against Malaysia, went viral on Facebook.

Commenting on the issue, the Malaysia SEA Games Organising Committee (MASOC) in a statement yesterday said the committee left it to the police to fully investigate the matter.

“MASOC also wishes to stress that we will not compromise with any security issues pertaining to KL2017, particularly, those concerning the security of the respective contingents,” the statement said.

“MASOC has also issued a warning to KL2017’s contractors and transport operators to tighten screening of their staff to ensure they are clean.

“If they fail to do so, we will not hesitate to take decisive action, such as terminating their contract with immediate effect,” it added. - Bernama