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The Robbery

Lumpur Police Headquarters opposite the Pudu Jail came to
Li Chai’s office at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Although we
were on opposite camps as “police and thieves”, I knew the
detectives and they knew me.
“Sam,” one of them said me, “you are a suspect in a
robbery case last night. Please follow us to the police station.”
My accomplice, Sei Ngan Chai, was also picked up by the
detectives. Later, on the way to the police headquarters, they
explained to me that Mr. Tan had lodged a police report on the
previous night’s incident at his office.
In a twist to the entire episode, Mr. Tan had accused us
of robbing him using firearms. That was enough to put me
behind bars, although the truth was that we were there to
collect the debt owed to Li Chai. A crime had been committed,
and there was no way I could get out of it. At first, I could not
understand the implications of what I had done. I thought
the case would somehow be settled and soon I would be free
again.
“If it were a minor case, we could have settled it, but the
police report stated that you had fired two shots and this is
serious,” one of the detectives told me privately. “There is very
little I can do to help you. I am sorry, Sam.”
There was silence as the words of the D9 detective
reverberated in my soul. It was as if he was pronouncing a
death sentence and my hopes of being set free evaporated just
like that! When Li Chai heard about it later, he shook his head
regretfully, saying: “I will hire the best lawyers to fight your
case. There must be a way out of this.”
The next morning, Sei Ngan Chai and I were taken to the
magistrate court at Jalan Duta where the police had obtained
a court order to remand both of us for 60 days. We were
detained at Jalan Campbell police station. The 8 feet by 14
feet lock-up was shared by up to eight other detainees. There
was no toilet in the cell, so I had to use plastic bags to relieve
myself. The stench in the lock-up was unbearable and we had
little room to even rest our heads when we slept at night.
We were only allowed to wear our underwear and nothing
else. This was to ensure that we had nowhere to hide any

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BOOK inside pages.indd 19 08/08/2018 05:43 PM