In a twist of irony, a Pokémon was caught during an anti-Pokémon Go press conference in front of the Dang Wangi police district headquarters this morning.

The Pokémon was caught next to Abdul Rani Kulup, president of Martabat Jalinan Muhibah Malaysia (MJMM), as he was speaking to reporters on the need to stop the game from entering Malaysia.

“I just wanted to see if any Pokémon would appear (on my phone) during the press conference and true enough there was one.

“So I got Krabby,” said a Pokémon Go player, who declined to be identified because she was using a hacked version of the game.

Rani was speaking to reporters after lodging a police report to urge authorities to bar the game from entering Malaysia for safety reasons.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said on Monday that there would be no objection nor restriction on the release of the app in Malaysia.

Rani said the game is "engrossing" and could pose a safety hazard.

“This can result in accidents, in the loss of lives, in the breaking of the law and can even result in players forgetting everything,” he said.

He added that the game would be detrimental to school students.

“Malaysia already has a lot of issues and a game like this will cause school students to forget their responsibilities,” he added.

Rani, who was bedecked in his usual paramilitary outfit, was also accompanied by Amir Amsaa Alla Pitchay of Ikatan Rakyat Muslim Malaysia and an entourage of 10 people.

Amir Amsaa urged the government to stop the game from being played in Malaysia.

“We must send a memorandum to the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia next week to make an objection against Pokémon Go,” he said.

Pokémon Go has been released in the United States, Australia, Germany and Britain on Android and iOS but is yet to be released in Malaysia.