GOPENG, April 13 ― A 170-strong police team, aided by personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) and Civil Defence Force, mounted another search for Mohammad Ashraf Hassan, 29, who went missing while participating in the Gopeng Ultra Trail 2019 here on March 23.

Perak police chief Datuk Razarudin Husain @ Abd Rasid said the team, led by state CID chief SAC Yahya Abd Rahman, included 15 officers and men from  Bukit Aman, and was also  assisted by  two tracker dogs from Bukit Aman’s K9 unit.

"This operation involves a 10 square kilometre area which was not covered before in the earlier search and rescue (SAR) operation and will last until this evening,” he told reporters at the team’s command post in Kampung Pintu Padang here.

Before this. some 800 volunteers had mounted a search for the 29-year-old runner popularly known as Acap but were unsuccessful, The official SAR operation to find him was called off on March 30 but the FRD has been continuing the search albeit on a smaller scale.

The runner, from Muar, Johor, competed in the 25km category but was nowhere around when it ended at 2pm and has not be seen since. ― Bernama