Pranks are occasionally funny but there’s a fine line between funny and potentially committing an offense. This is especially the case for those masquerading as law enforcement officers for a laugh.
According to local newspaper Utusan Borneo, it seemed like this man from Kuching had to learn that the hard way after doing exactly that to celebrate a birthday party.
Man gets detained for impersonating policeman
Over two days ago, a man whose wife works as a baker received an order for a cake. The cake was apparently meant to be a gift from a customer to one of the police personnel working in Tapah police station. On the day that the cake was due to be delivered, the man proceeded to bring it to the police station and introduced himself as an on-duty policeman from Bukit Aman.
He then claimed that he was there to arrest one of the police officers and told him to wait while he allegedly went back to his car to grab his files. Returning moments later with the cake, he then explained that it had all been a prank on his part to surprise the birthday boy.
“The cake was ordered by one of the man’s customers, and was meant to be gifted to the complainant.” said Padawan region head of police Superintendent Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad.
Unfortunately, what he failed to realise was that impersonating a law enforcement officer was a prosecutable offense. The police officers in the station explained to him that the prank was distasteful and that it could lead to serious repercussions if he did it again.
The police officers then tried to ask for his identity again and much to their chagrin, the man once again decided to lie and told them that he was ‘actually’ a policeman from the Kuching district criminal investigation division. The police officers from the Tapah station then requested for his identification card and upon checking, discovered that he is a civilian.
Source: Utusan Borneo
“The 36-year-old suspect is currently detained at the Siburan police station and has been remanded at the Kuching court”, he adds.
The man was subsequently arrested on the spot and investigations into the case are currently being made under Section 170 of the Penal Code for falsely impersonating a public servant which is punishable by a jail term of up to two months and/or a fine upon conviction.
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