KANGAR: The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) are actively tracking down a man of Rohingya descent known as “Long Tiger”, who reportedly escaped from the Tangkak Magistrate's Court lock-up in Johor recently.

       Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said all police chiefs at the state and district levels had also been alerted over the matter.

       "Pictures of the suspect have been distributed and InsyaAllah, we will get clues about his whereabouts," he said at a press conference after a working visit to the Perlis contingent police headquarters here.

       The suspect, Abdul Hamim Ab Hamid, 32, had allegedly escaped from the court lock-up at 11.55am on Dec 15.

       In another development, Mazlan urged retired policemen who were affected by the floods to come forward, so that assistance could be channelled to them.

       He said PDRM had the Police Heritage Trust Fund (TAWP), which also covered disaster assistance of up to RM10,000 for retirees.

       "This fund has been established for police retirees. There is money to help them if they are affected by the floods," he said, adding that PDRM was identifying the total number of police retirees affected.

       He said there were 42,279 police retirees nationwide in PDRM’s records, and those who had relocated were urged to update their information to ensure the necessary assistance could be made.

       "I would like to inform all police retirees to come forward and register themselves, because some of them, when they were on duty, said they wanted to retire at ‘address A’, but since then, have moved to another place," he said. - Bernama