There are around 80 Chins asylum seekers residing in Tamansarah Chin refugee camp.

"We heard the arrested Chins are still in the RELA office. We don't know when and to which jail they will be taken," said Salai, secretary of Chin Refugees Committee in Malaysia.

RELA is notorious and has drawn international criticism for operating outside the law and for taking brutal action against immigrant workers and refugees in Malaysia.   

RELA on January 23 at 5 am also raided Chin refugee campsite in the outskirts of Putrajaya in which around 80 Chin refugees including asylum seekers reside and snatched 30 Chins including women, CRC said.

Moreover, the make-shift huts and other materials including Christian bibles belonging to Chins in Putrajaya were reduced to ashes. The 30 arrested Chins were taken to Semenyih detention camp.

According CRC, the rest of Chins are in homeless situation and are still hiding in the nearby jungle in Putrajaya.

The UNHCR office in Malaysia has already said to have inspected the burnt down make-shift campsites of Chin refugees in Putrajaya.  

Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) today said in press release that the latest raid in Putrajaya is the worst among the regular crackdowns by RELA on the refugee community in Malaysia.

"These days we do not dare to go out as the situation here is worse than before," said a Chin woman refugee in Kuala lampur.

There are over 23,000 Chins living in Malaysia in search of safety and better living conditions as human rights abuses and lack of freedom under military rule in Burma had forced them to flee their homeland. – Khonumthung.