Police have detained 15 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.
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 — with at least 18 mysterious and unexplained murders of Myanmar nationals.
Authorities had made little comment until now but the state´s police chief was quoted today as saying they now believe the killings are linked to Myanmar´s sectarian bloodshed — where there has been violent clashes between Muslims and Buddhists.
“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.
Violent clashes between majority Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted in 2012 in western Myanmar´s Rakhine state.
The violence has left about 200 people dead and up to 140,000, mostly Rohingya, displaced.
