Police have detained 17 people from Myanmar over a string of gruesome murders in a popular Malaysian tourist destination, and believe the killings are linked to ethnic unrest in their native country, reports said Friday.
Malaysian police have detained 15 people from Myanmar over a string of gruesome murders in Penang, a popular tourist destination, and believe the killings are linked to ethnic unrest in their native country
Public anxiety has risen in Malaysia's historic state of Penang over the past few months as mutilated corpses or severed body parts have turned up
"We can tell that these are the work of Myanmar nationals. They bring their hatred here from their country of origin," Abdul Rahim Hanafi was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail.
"It was revenge they brought here from their country."
He said police were still investigating. The report provided little further detail and Penang police were not immediately reachable for comment.
Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar asylum-seekers and economic migrants
Penang is on Malaysia's northern coast, along the dangerous sea route via southern Thailand that is taken by Rohingya fleeing Myanmar.