NARATHIWAT, Dec 21 — Most of the Malaysian women detained at the Narathiwat prison are drug offenders, said Narathiwat Provincial Prison Crime Management specialist (Women’s Wing) Panata Yononarongdetkul.

She said that most of them were women from the state of Kelantan, which borders Thailand.

"These women were arrested for drug possession or abuse. In the last 10 years, more than 100 Malaysian women have been imprisoned in Narathiwat.

"Currently, there are only seven Malaysian women at the prison, including a popular Kelantan modern dikir barat singer in temporary detention for allegedly possessing 6,000 Yaba pills in November,” she told reporters during a recent Kelantan special media visit to the Narathiwat Provincial Prison.

She said that most of the Malaysian women sent to the Narathiwat prison would suffer from depression during the first week of detention.

"We also practice the same rules as in Malaysia, in addition to standard operating procedures based on human rights principles through the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) in the handling of detainees,” she said.

She also dismissed allegations by netizens via TikTok that the provincial prison treated Malaysian detainees badly.

Meanwhile, the prison’s director, Supt Surin Chantep said the prison officers always prioritised issues regarding religious commitments, like congregational prayer, besides providing Quran classes and ensuring only halal food is served.

"The policies and rules implemented in this prison are more Islamic because 90 per cent of the population in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat (Southern Thailand) are Muslims,” he said.

He added that they treated all prisoners equally, irrespective of their nationality, race and religion.

"So far, the prison authorities have not received any complaint about the treatment they received, especially from the Malaysian detainees,” he said.

Asked to comment on the condition of the Kelantanese singer, her husband and four others who are detained in the prison, Surin said they are all in good shape and healthy, while the singer is also visited by her family once a week.

In November, the singer was among six Malaysians detained by Thai police in a raid on a hotel in Golok, Thailand.

The female singer and the other five individuals were detained to assist in the investigation into the seizure of 6,000 Yaba pills. — Bernama