Malaysian policemen accused of raping Indonesian

Three policemen have been accused of gang-raping an Indonesian woman at a police station in a northern Malaysian town. Lau Chiek Tuan, a local politician, told AFP that the 25-year-old woman came to his office in the town of Prai just hours after the alleged rape on Friday. Lau said he held a press conference Saturday where the woman claimed the three officers in a patrol car stopped a taxi she boarded from a shopping mall in the town of Prai early Friday morning. "They asked to look at her passport but when she produced a photocopy, they still took her to the police station. It was just an excuse to bring her in. "She could identify the three cops who raped her in a room where there was a mattress - I don't know for what reason there is a mattress in a police station," he added. However, the former elected representative said the woman did not want to be identified and she could not be immediately contacted. News reports cited Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi as confirming that three policemen were remanded for a week on Friday night and suspended from duty pending investigations. "We will make sure that the policemen will not be protected if the allegation turns out to be true," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper on Sunday. AFP could not reach Abdul Rahim for comment. The woman, a restaurant worker, was also quoted by the English daily as saying she was scared and "had no other choice but to have sex with the three policemen". According to newspaper the Star, she said she was warned "not to tell anyone about the incident" after they sent her back to her home. Malaysian police are already under fire from rising crime fears as personal tales of abduction, assault and robbery go viral online, triggering scrutiny of official claims that offences have reduced significantly over in recent years.