• State Police Commissioner Datuk Talib Jamal 

“There could be some lower rank officers who were ‘baik’ (nice) to gangsters. Some names may have surfaced.

“The fact is that I really don’t know,” Talib added.

Last Saturday, he flatly brushed aside the allegations during a press conference.

But pushed to comment again yesterday, the state police commissioner said: “This one is really beyond me. Twenty gang leaders have been apprehended (under ‘Ops Cantas Kenyalang’), so during interrogations by Bukit Aman officers, there is a possibility some names (of police officers) surfaced.”

Talib also said Bukit Aman investigators did not report to him.

The matter was prominently reported by several national and local Chinese dailies claiming that a team from Bukit Aman was carrying out the investigations.

Quoting “very reliable sources”, the reports went on to say the officers with gangster links had been recalled to Miri, despite having been transferred out of the district recently.

To this, Talib suggested that the transfers could be due to overcrowding of officers in Miri.

“Transfers are normal. For instance, there are six ASPs in Miri right now, but only four (are needed). Therefore, two must be transferred.”

According to reports by the Chinese dailies, Federal CID director Datuk Christopher Wan was speculated to be visiting Miri sometime this week “to handle the issue personally”.