More bite to curb metal thefts
Police to enforce Second-Hand Dealer’s Act across the state starting next month
KUCHING: The police will be fully enforcing the Second-Hand Dealer’s Act from February 1 and will be launching a state-wide operation to go after unlicensed dealers of second-hand goods.
State Police Commissioner Datuk Mazlan Mansor said the police have so far received a total of 438 applications to trade in used goods, and have approved 240 of them while the balance of 198 applications were still in the process of being approved .
“The delay in approval is due to the fault of the applicants, who submit ted incomplete documentation.
“So we just have to wait until they get it all in order, and then we will approve it as quickly as possible,” he said after leading a monthly parade at state police headquarters here yesterday.
He added the police will give consideration to operators who have applied but have yet to obtain approval, but will take strict action against those who have not even applied for a licence.
With the enforcement of the Act, Mazlan said the police will be able to monitor those who purchase stolen goods and be more effective in reducing the number of cable and metal theft cases in the state.
In 2016, he said there were 38 cases of cable theft reported to the police, which was an increase
For cable theft, we arrested 23 persons last year and charged 12 of them in court. At the same time, we seized a total of RM634,580 worth of stolen cables.
Datuk Mazlan Mansor, State Police Commissioner
from the 23 cases reported the year before.
“For cable theft, we arrested 23 persons last year and charged 12 of them in court. At the same time, we seized a total of RM634,580 worth of stolen cables,” he said, disclosing also that metal theft cases had dropped from 20 cases in 2015 to only nine cases last year, with RM162,500 worth of stolen metal seized.
On a separate issue, the commissioner called on all parties to avoid making accusations whether through mainstream or social media that the police were not doing anything to curb illegal gambling in the state.
Saying such accusations were unfair, he instead urged everyone to work together by channelling information on such activities directly to the police for immediate action.
“Last year, we conducted 770 successful raids against al l forms of illegal gambling and made 1,822 arrests, while seizing 1,136 computers and RM458,135 in cash,” he said.