Policemen manning a roadblock in Kuching during the MCO period. Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: The police have issued seven warrant of arrests against individuals who have failed to appear in court for charges under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the local Infected Areas) Regulations 2020, said Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail today.
A total of 150 suspects have been summoned to court when they were arrested for violating the Movement Control Order (MCO) throughout Sarawak since March 18.
“To date, a total of 125 accused have pleaded guilty while another 18 have pleaded not guilty,” said Aidi when contacted.
He added that 69 of the accused have been sentenced to jail while another 29 were sentenced and fined. Fourteen of the accused have been slapped with only a fine.
On another note, Aidi revealed that the compliance level for the MCO in Sarawak currently stands at 95.3 per cent – an improvement of 0.3 per cent since last week.
The police, he said, have also made fewer arrests between 8am on March 18 to 8am today.
“Within that 24 hour period, a total of 36 arrests have been made as compared to 46 arrests within the same period yesterday (March 31),” said Aidi.
He opined that the declining number of arrests might probably be due to people realising the importance of the MCO.
“Maybe people are also being more wary after reading news of those being sentenced to jail after being found guilty by the court for violating the MCO,” he added.