Police raid Empower office
> Bukit Aman’s classified criminal investigation unit behind swoop
PETALING JAYA: Police officers yesterday raided the Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) office in Section 4 here for investigations into activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy and under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
The raid was confirmed by a senior Selangor police officer who told theSun that the raid was conducted by Bukit Aman’s classified criminal investigation unit.
The NGO had taken to Twitter yesterday as some 10 officers arrived at its headquarters and locked themselves inside the office.
“Police are not allowing lawyers into our office and have covered all windows with paper so those of us outside can’t see what they’re doing inside,” the NGO tweeted at 1.20pm.
Empower is a local NGO that advocates justice and democracy, and works with women and youth to realise their potential in areas of politics, economy and civil liberties.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah is the founder of Empower.
A source from the NGO said police used the same procedure when they conducted a raid on the Bersih 2.0 office on Nov 18. The raid lasted about an hour and a half. In the Nov 18 raid on the Bersih 2.0 office, police detained Maria Chin and the NGO’s secretariat officer Mandeep Singh.
Since then Mandeep has been released and Maria Chin, who was earlier expected to be detained under Sosma for the full length of 28 days, was also released yesterday.