Petaling Jaya police today told pet owners whose cats were ill-treated by Petknode Online Pet Store that the authorities will have to gather sufficient evidence first before classifying the case under Section 402 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Meeting the pet owners at Petaling Jaya police headquarters this afternoon, police pledged to “give support to the pet owners” and asked for more time to pursue the case.
“We were asked to record further statements with the police official,” said pet owner Rahimah Ibrahim who has lodged a report against Petknode yesterday for breach of trust. 
“We will cook then serve, this is what they told us,” she told reporters after the meeting.
She said the police promised four steps of action, which were a preliminary probe into the case under Animal Act 1953, support the pet owners, gather evidences on alleged criminal cheating and finally forward the case to Attorney Chamber to make prosecution decision.
The pets owners were however unimpressed with these promises.
“I asked police ‘what is next’ after I lodged the report last night, they said they already caught the two shop operators, but when I asked to know further, they said it was Veterinary Service Department who did the arrest,” Ratimah said
“There is something fishy going on,” she continued.
Lawyer N. Surendran pointed out that police has made no feedback on the offence of theft allegedly committed by the operators on 100 missing cats.
“They did not talk about theft, which include the missing of a Persian cat worth thousands Ringgit,” he said.
MPs, media barred from the meeting
The pet owners were initially scheduled to meet the authorities with Lawyer N. Surendran, SPCA chairman Christine Chin, Subang MP R. Sivarasa, councillor Latheefa Koya and Pantai MP Nurul Izzah, but the individuals were barred from entering when they arrived on scene.
Even members of the press were stopped from parking their vehicles in the police headquarter’s compound and were at one time chased away from the floor of the meeting room.
The barred individuals chided police for their high-handedness as they were promised the meeting by a representative of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in Bkt Aman yesterday.
“You lied to us. You promised us a meeting. Now there is no meeting,” Surendran rapped the representative through phone.
Inaccessible website led to suspicion
Meanwhile, Ratimah shed the light on why pet owners became suspicious over their cats wellbeing at the Damansara Damai boarding center.
She said she was suppose to claim her cat on Sept 2, but was told that the center will close until Sept 5.
“When I checked their website, it no longer functions; and their Facebook page was deactivated,” she added.
She did not expect so many pet owners of similar fate appear at the center when she went there on Sunday.
“After a tough search overnight, finally I got back my cat at 3am on Monday,” she said.
The pet owners were initially scheduled to meet the authorities together with lawyer N. Surendran, Subang Jaya MP Sivarasa Rasiah,Petaling Jaya City councillor Latheefa Koya, SPCA chairwoman Christine Chin, and Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, but the individuals were barred from entering when they arrived on scene.
Even members of the press were stopped from parking their vehicles in the police headquarters’ compound and were at one time chased from the floor of the meeting room.
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Jimmy Tan
