KUALA TERENGGANU: Police arrested 44,343 suspects in ‘Op Cantas Khas’ until Dec 31, last year since the nationwide special anti-crime operation was launched on Aug 17.
Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the operation obviously had positive results, whereby the crime index dropped by 4.3 per cent.
He said of the number arrested, Malays made up 19,444, followed by other races (10,329), Indians (9,370) and Chinese (5,200).
“Malays also comprised the biggest number, at 592,295, among those checked by police, followed by other races (317,938), Chinese (244,546) and Indians(213,630), bringing to a total of 1,368,410, while 807,319 vehicles were also inspected during the operation.”
Khalid said this at the Bicara Tokoh Programme which discussed national security issues from the perspective of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), here, yesterday.
The talk programme was also attended by UMT vice-chancellor Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo and Terengganu police chief Datuk Jamshah Mustapa.
Khalid said PDRM had also formed an elite tactical team known as the Special Task Force on Organised Crime (STAFOC), specifically to tackle and manage the problems of serious crime, gangsterism, illegal gambling, prostitution, human trafficking, and drug trafficking by syndicates, effective Jan 1, this year.
He said overall, the crime index for the January-December 2013 period went down by 4.3 per cent, from 153,669 cases in 2012 to 147,073 cases in 2013.
“This achievement is only 0.7 per cent short of the targeted five per cent under the National Key Result Area (NKRA) of reducing crime.”
On narcotic crime, he said police arrested 175,198 offenders in 2013 compared to 171,649 in 2012, an increase of two per cent.
“From the operations conducted, the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department also seized 11.32 tonnes, 42,718 litres and 1.12 million pills of various types of drugs, estimated to be worth a total of RM402.73 million, up six per cent from RM381.09 million in 2012.” — Bernama