Hardcore drug addicts and vagrants will be temporarily swept off the streets and into an old jail during the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Kuala Lumpur next month, police said today.

The disused Pudu prison was being renovated for the purpose and would be able to hold up to 700 people, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai told reporters.

Police had no problem arresting and detaining drug addicts around the capital but lacked holding space, Norian was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

More than 8,000 police reinforcements will be drafted into Kuala Lumpur during the conference on Feb 20-25, which will bring together leaders or their representatives from NAM's 114 member states.

Increasingly irrelevant

The movement, formed as an alternative to the Western and Soviet blocs during the Cold War, has been seen as increasingly irrelevant since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Malaysia has indicated it believes the war on terrorism and the situation in Iraq which is a member of NAM, could give the organisation a new role to play. - AFP