Man’s joke goes wrong: Malaysian police arrest prankster pretending to be cop

The 36-year-old turned up at the Tapah police station in Sarawak's capital city of Kuching on Sunday afternoon. PHOTO: PEXELS

A Malaysian man who thought it would be funny to walk into a police station and threaten to arrest an officer there saw his prank backfiring on him after he got arrested by the real men in blue instead.

The 36-year-old turned up at the Tapah police station in Sarawak’s capital city of Kuching on Sunday afternoon, claiming to be a policeman from Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur, where the Royal Malaysian Police Headquarters is located, the Borneo Post reported.

“The suspect then asked the complainant (a police officer) who the other personnel stationed there were, and the complainant said he was with another colleague who was also on duty at the time,” said the Padawan district police chief, Superintendent Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad.

The suspect then said he would arrest the complainant but would first go back to his vehicle to grab some files.

“When he returned to the police station, the suspect had a cake with him and explained that his action was only a prank,” Supt Abang Zainal Abidin said in a statement on Sunday.

When it became clear that the suspect, whose wife ran a cake shop, was a civilian, the officers detained him on the spot.

“A warning had been given to the suspect, but he still stated that he was a police officer,” said the superintendent.

“Civilians must know better than to overstep the bounds in pranks. Do not touch sensitive issues to prevent unnecessary trouble,” he added.

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