500 Malaysian Indians jailed abroad for crime

KUALA LUMPUR - About 500 ethnic Indians have been detained abroad for involvement in drugs and credit cards rackets, a Malaysian minister has said.

Tamil newspaper Malaysia Nanban quoted Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay, an ethnic Indian, as saying that there were about 1,500 Malaysians in the jails of foreign countries.

The ethnic Indians were mostly in the 20-35 age group, he said.

Rising crime graph among ethnic Indians, a bulk of them, have worried religious leaders who have advocated enhanced teaching of morals using ancient scriptures.