KEPALA BATAS – On the first day of the full-scale movement control order 3.0 (MCO 3.0) the Seberang Prai Utara (SPU) police yesterday issued compounds amounting to RM46,000 on those flouting standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Police also nabbed 15 individuals for crossing districts without permission and over gambling activities.
Six individuals aged between 24 and 65 were found crossing between districts without valid documents. They were compounded RM5,000 each. They were caught moving from Seberang Prai Tengah to SPU using Jalan Permatang Pauh between 11am and 3pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, five men and four women were nabbed for engaging in illegal gambling at the Raja Uda Business Centre.
SPU district police chief Noorzainy Mohd Noor said a team raided the premises and found the suspects, aged between 30 and 50.
Noorzainy added the owner of the premises was compounded RM4,000 for holding the activity and the patrons slapped with a RM1,500 fine for failing to maintain social distancing.
“The suspects were taken to the district police headquarters here for further investigations under Section 6 (1) of the Open Gaming House Act 1963,” he said.
“We also seized several gambling items, including RM814 in cash, and all the offenders were detained and compounded for flouting SOPs.
“While we are serious about illegal gambling in the district as the immoral act can ruin society. We want the whole community to help the police and government break the virus chain of transmission as there is a surge of Covid-19 cases in the country and every citizen is responsible to curb it,” he said.
Scammers milk gullible people of money
In another development, a clerk from a private firm in Mak Mandin lost RM17,800 and a 50-year-old female teacher lost RM5,000 to a Macau Scam. The perpetrators had used illegal internet accounts to impersonate police officers and compel the victims to bank money into their accounts.
Noorzainy said the case is being investigated by the district Commercial Crimes Investigation Department.
The modus operandi of the scam is to call the victim and then connect the line, supposedly to the Negri Sembilan police headquarters in Seremban. The victim is then accused of some misdeed.
In the case of the clerk, the syndicate agent accused her of being involved in illegal money-handling. She was then told to clear her name by paying RM17,8000 into a bank account to settle the problem.
The victim only suspected she had been cheated when the agent asked her to bank in more money, and after she told her family about the incident.
In a similar incident, the teacher in Kepala Batas lost RM5,000 to a similar modus operandi.
The victim was contacted by someone who later connected the line, supposedly to the Negri Sembilan police contingent, for further action and investigation.
“The victim was threatened by the agent and asked to give the details of her bank account and password for her online banking account.”
The victim then transferred RM5,000 from her Tabung Haji account into her Bank Islam account.
“She later found that the money had been transferred to the account of an individual and later realised that she was cheated by a syndicate,” Noorzainy added.
The cases are being investigated under Section 429 of the Penal Code for cheating. – The Vibes, June 2, 2021
