Crackdown on criminals begins

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WE MEAN BUSINESS: Khalid (centre) and Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi (right) showing reporters the three pistols that were seized after five criminals were shot dead at an apartment in Sungai Nibong early yesterday morning. — Bernama photo

Cops shoot dead 5 suspected gang members in operation, govt mulls extending preventive law to S’wak, Sabah

KUCHING: Police killed five suspected criminal gang members in a shootout in Penang yesterday and rounded up
200 people as they crack down on a burst of violent crimes that shocked the country in a nationwide operation code named ‘Ops Cantas’.

The anti-crime push started last Saturday following growing public outcry over lawlessness that for the past month had seen near-daily shootings and other violent crimes, the vast majority of which were unsolved.

The government has blamed the chaos on gang members and other criminals released after the Emergency Ordinance, which allowed preventive detention, was scrapped in 2011 following pressure from reform advocates.

But political critics blamed the police for failing to keep peace.

Police said the five suspects were killed in an exchange of fire when police moved into their hideout in Penang.

In a press conference in Penang, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the suspects held in the major blitz were being investigated under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Amended 1983) (PCA).

“To date, we have apprehended 200 people under PCA in which they could be detained up to 72 days, and after that they would be brought to court for further action.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry is mulling over the extension of PCA to Sarawak and Sabah to curb violent crimes in the two states.

“As PCA is not applicable in Sarawak and Sabah, whatever that has been carried out under CPA in Peninsular Malaysia could not be done in the two states,” Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He disclosed that the ministry discussed the extension of PCA to Sarawak and Sabah yesterday morning, but extending the laws to both states might take some time as it involved the consent of both governments and Parliament.

“First, the ministry (Home Affairs) has to agree to extend it then we need the approval from both the governments of Sabah and Sarawak.

“Only when both the states agree, then we can propose it to the Attorney-General before tabling it in Parliament,” said Wan Junaidi.

State police chief Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, when contacted, said police in the state used Criminal Procedure
Code (CPC) that allowed the police to detain an individual for not more than 24 hours for documentation and background check.

“For Sarawak and Sabah, we will use Section 105 of CPC,” said Acryl.

He revealed that from 2007 to 2011, police arrested 237 suspected criminals under the Emergency Ordinance (EO).

Asked if Sarawak police would be cracking down on former EO detainees who are still active, Acryl said police here “are always at war with criminals, whoever, they may be.” — Agencies