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Temerloh police assists stranded Russian backpacker

TEMERLOH: A Russian backpacker who was spotted wandering aimlessly around the town here looking for food yesterday has been rescued by the police.

The man, a 42-year-old cargo engineer from Russia, went viral after netizens shared his images holding a paper with "I can't go home and have no money, I need a food" written on it.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Yusri Othman said the man has been identified as Maxim Lapin from Moscow, who was on holiday in Malaysia but could not return home due to the Movement Control Order (MCO).

"We spotted him in front of a supermarket about 4.30pm yesterday and took him to a health clinic for Covid-19 screening. We have informed the Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and we are in the midst of making arrangements to send him to the embassy to enable him to go home.

"Investigations revealed the backpacker had entered Malaysia on March 17 through the Thailand-Malaysia border and travelled to Kuantan to meet some friends. However, due to the MCO on March 18, he could not meet his friends and his flight was cancelled," he said.

Yusri said the man managed to get into a lorry which was travelling to Kuala Lumpur but the driver dropped him in Temerloh yesterday.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Bentong, police arrested seven boys who were swimming in a river in Telemong near here for violating MCO on Tuesday.

Bentong district police chief Superintendent Yusof Unis said policemen spotted the boys, aged between 14 and 20 years old, at the water near Taman Telemong Jaya about 5.15pm.

"Our patrol team were conducting their routine rounds when they caught the boys playing in the water. They are being investigated under Section 269 of the Penal Code for a negligent act likely to spread infection of any disease dangerous to life and Regulation 11 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2020," he said.

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