A confrontation which took place in Padawan, Sarawak, involving a group of men which saw one of them carrying a machete in a viral video yesterday, is not due to a racial issue, but a fraud case, says Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador.

"I urge the public not to believe such inciteful statements that the incident is racially motivated when it is just a coincidence.

"Please determine the facts before being influenced. The police are investigating and hunting down the individual," he told Bernama.

Abdul Hamid said the incident was a scam involving a man who deceived a group of men by promising to give them more money if he won the lottery.

"The men have been searching for the suspect for the past few days and as they came across the suspect today, they tried to catch hold of him.

"The act of surrounding the suspect is not a problem ... but the problem is, why one of them had to carry a machete?"

He said police were now looking for the person who was carrying the machete because the act was a criminal offence under Section 506 of the Penal Code, while two local men had been arrested for attempted fraud in the case.

- Bernama