Zaini (centre), with his officers in Pulau Gaya yesterday, said health screening will be carried out for the 4,000 islanders there.
KOTA KINABALU: Thirteen people have been detained by police in Sabah for violating the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Zaini Jass said the arrests were made during the MCO order between March 18 and 27 statewide.
He said that among those detained were eight local men from Kudat who had gone out to sea for leisure fishing on Thursday.
“The eight men were detained when they refused to adhere to police instructions when told to go home and not to be out at sea during the MCO period.
“One man was apprehended for obstructing police from carrying out their duty, while two men from Kota Kinabalu and one man each from Kunak and Kinabatangan were also detained for violating the MCO order,” said Zaini, adding that two men have since been charged at the Kota Kinabalu court on Thursday.
Meanwhile, during a police check at Pulau Gaya yesterday, Zaini said villagers from the island have been barred from entering the state capital in an effort to control the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zaini said a three-day operation, starting today (March 28), will be carried out in Pulau Gaya which will focus on health checks on the 4,000 villagers living on the island.
He said this was necessary to control all movement entering the state capital.
“Since villagers from Pulau Gaya have been barred from entering the state capital, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong and his ministry will contribute essential items such as food to the people on the island,” said Zaini.
Asked if Sabah’s MCO compliance was satisfactory, Zaini said it has improved as the people are starting to comply with advice from the police and authority.
“Since the MCO was implemented on March 18, we have inspected over 46,000 vehicles and from that figure, close to 1,200 vehicles have been asked to turn back home as they did not have any reason to be out during the MCO period,” said Zaini, adding that all those asked to turn back complied with police advice.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) was first issued on March 18 and was expected to last until March 31.
But due to the increase of number of Covid-19 cases, the Malaysian government decided to extend the MCO for another two weeks until April 14.