A tourist from China in Malaysia has claimed that a police officer pulled the car she was in over and allegedly extorted RM200 (S$60) from her after she couldn’t show her passport.
The woman posted on Xiaohongshu to share her ordeal, although the video appears to have been removed.
According to the woman, she was on her way back to her hotel in a taxi after dinner with Malaysian friends at around 11pm on 31 Mar.
The driver then noticed there was a police car that’d been following them for a while, so they pulled over.
An armed police officer then came over and knocked on their car window.
In the video, the officer can be heard asking for her ID.
He then asked where she was from, and after she said “China”, he asked for her passport.
But she’d left her passport at the hotel, and offered to show her driver’s licence and other identity cards instead.
However, he allegedly said these would not do — he needed to see that she had an immigration stamp on her passport issued by Malaysian authorities.
He then said she’d have to be detained at the police station.
The woman claimed she tried calling the China embassy but could not get through.
After she made the calls, the driver explained that the officer wanted money, but because she wasn’t carrying any cash, he offered to lend her whatever he had, which was RM200.
However, the officer said they needed to pay another RM100, and it wasn’t until her friend stepped in and spoke to the officer in Malay that he finally realised he wouldn’t get any more money from them.
So, he took the RM200 and let them go.
My Malaysian friends told me that in these circumstances, if you’re not carrying cash, the officer will bring you to an ATM to withdraw cash.
However, if you’re unwilling to give any cash, they’ll take you to the police station and lock you up for a night, she was told.
“I have now realised that while overseas, I must always have my passport on me.”
“I’ve visited over 20 countries and studied in the United Kingdom, and it wasn’t until I came to Malaysia that I found out about this.”
She explained that she usually keeps her passport in the hotel to prevent losing it.
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Featured image adapted from Global Times and by MS News for illustration purposes only.
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