Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has established a special team that will locate individuals that have made interstate travel without permission especially now that there is an increasing number of such attempts as we get closer to Hari Raya Aidilfitri. This team will not only consist of police officers but also members of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM).
According to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador, a special team has been assigned to monitor housing areas and villages throughout the country. IGP Abdul Hamid has also mentioned that PDRM has kept a record of those who have obtained the permission to perform interstate travel, including the details of their vehicles.
While the authorities do allow interstate travel for certain cases such as husband or wife that live in different states to visit their families, they still need to obtain permission from PDRM first by submitting their applications at the nearest police station.
According to the statistics provided by the Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob, PDRM has established 149 roadblocks at state borders throughout the country up till yesterday, 18 May. These roadblocks have inspected 255,891 vehicles and have found that 1,633 of them have attempted to make unauthorized interstate travel.
Meanwhile, Minister Ismail has also revealed that PDRM and ATM will also be on patrol during Hari Raya period to make sure that the public will also adhere to the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) procedures for festive days. The minister has even said that if the police noticed that there are a lot of vehicles at one’s home, they might stop by and check the number of people that are present in the premise at that time.
Previously, it has been announced Hari Raya visits can only take place on the first day and limited to 20 people on that very day itself. So, all in all, it looks like our security forces are going to be quite busy this coming Raya.
(Source: Bernama // Berita Harian // RTM live Feed [begins at 7:28 mark]. Images: Markas ATM // Axel Drainville, used under Creative Commons license.)
