ALOR SETAR: Police have detained the father of two Myanmar national boys who died after eating food they scrounged from a rubbish bin in Langkawi yesterday.
Langkawi district police chief Assistant Commissioner Shariman Ashari said the 36-year-old man was being investigated for several felonies, including drug abuse.
"He is being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
"He is also being investigated under Section 15(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 after he was tested positive for drugs," Shariman said in a statement today.
According to Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, any person who has in his or her care a child that is being neglected, abandoned or exposes the child in a manner likely to cause him/her physical or emotional injury can be fined not exceeding RM20,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or both.
It is learnt that the man is also being investigated under the Immigration Act for entering the country illegally.
Meanwhile, Shariman added that the boys' remains were being transported from the Sultanah Maliha Hospital in Langkawi to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar today for post-mortem.
It was reported yesterday that the brothers, Nizambudin Jamaludin, four, and Ngei, two, died after eating food they scrounged from a rubbish bin in Kampung Baru Sungai Tepa, Bukit Malut.
They reportedly died after their father found them near the rubbish bin in a disoriented manner.
He rushed them to a neighbour's home but the boys stopped breathing several minutes later.
Police believe the victims ate food they fished out from the rubbish bin.
It is understood that both boys, who lived with their father, did not have a home and lived with their neighbour in the village.
Their father fixed boats and took on odd-jobs in the village to earn money.