‘Sex party’ becomes drug case

Case is transferred to narcotics dept as nine test positive for drugs

		A man is arrested in Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 52 revellers were picked up in the city, as over 30,000 gathered to welcome the new year. — PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Malaysian police said yesterday that they will not press sex offence charges against 26 people who were arrested in a private apartment during a New Year bash in Kuala Lumpur.

The case has been transferred to the Narcotics Department instead as drugs were found in the 3.30am raid.

Those arrested included a 22-year-old woman newscaster with a private TV network, a 24-year-old part-time actress, a disc jockey and several students, according to newspaper reports.

When police stormed the 11th floor apartment in a building close to the Petronas Twin Towers, the occupants were all fully clothed and the few condoms found had not been used.

However, the media had dubbed the gathering as a 'sex party' on Thursday, and claimed that couples had been found in each of the three bedrooms.

The revellers were 'highly intoxicated' and some broke down when arrested, the New Straits Times (NST) daily had reported on Thursday.

It said the apartment was fitted with disco lights and loud music was playing, and condoms, beer cans and half-eaten pizzas were strewn all over the floor.

Initial investigations revealed that the organisers were a couple who had earlier entertained their guests at a nighclub elsewhere, the NST said.

Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigations Department chief Ku Chin Wah said yesterday that the case had been handed over to the city narcotics department for further action because of the drugs found, The Star newspaper said.

Initial urine tests showed that nine people, including the newscaster and the actress, had tested positive for drugs, said Kuala Lumpur narcotics chief Kang Chez Chiang. 'The nine, aged between 20 and 30, tested positive for ecstasy and ketamine, and they will be sent…for further tests,' he said, adding that all of the 26 arrested will be detained until tomorrow to have their statements recorded.

'We are questioning them to identify the source of the drugs, to aid further investigations,' he said.

A person convicted of consuming dangerous drugs can be fined up to RM5,000 (S$2,100) or jailed for up to two years.

The so-called sex party followed reports of a no-underwear party planned in Johor on New Year's Eve.

That party did not take place, said the Johor police, which had earlier warned that it was a hoax.

Police had nevertheless kept a close watch on several spots in Johor which could have been used for the party, NST said.

Meanwhile, police arrested 60 New Year revellers in the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Penang on Thursday for fights, molesting women and spraying foam at police officers.

In Kuala Lumpur, 52 revellers were picked up during street celebrations in the small hours of Thursday in three different areas of the city.

They were among some 30,000 who had gathered in downtown Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the countdown to 2009.

Several tourists and Malaysians who got into a fight after a drinking spree at the tourist belt of Bukit Bintang were arrested.

In Penang, some 100,000 people gathered around the Gurney Drive area, the NST reported. – The Straits Times