17 arrested in Lumut, 20 in Georgetown for participating in wild parties

LUMUT: 17 individuals, including an Indonesian woman were fined RM4,000 each for violating standard operating procedures (SOP) of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) at a condominium here, early this morning.

Manjung district police chief ACP Nor Omar Sappi said during the raid, all the individuals comprising nine men and eight women aged 19 to 48 were found enjoying a party at about 1.15 am.

He said the raid was carried out as a result of a public tip-off and police also found a 35-year-old Indonesian woman without valid travel documents. She was detained under Section 269 of the Penal Code and Section 6 (1) (C) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963.

"Compounds were issued against 16 local individuals for organising a public gathering with no physical distancing under Regulation 16 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within the Infected Local Areas) 2021.

"The condominium unit was rented at a price of RM350 for one night. All the individuals involved were later arrested and brought back to the Manjung District Police Headquarters for further investigation," he said in a statement here today.

Nor Omar said three men and two women from the group tested positive for Methamphetamine and the case is being investigated under Section 15 (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

In GEORGE TOWN, police arrested 20 individuals including seven women at a wild party when their rented bungalow house in Taman Star Hill, Bukit Gambir here, was raided around midnight last night.

Penang Criminal Investigation Department police chief SAC Rahimi Ra'ais said a police team raided the bungalow rented by the group for RM800 yesterday at 12.30 am, as a result of a public tip off and intelligence conducted by his team.

"We received information that there was loud music in the three-storey bungalow before making an inspection and found that there were 13 men and seven women, all aged 17 to 25, inside the residence," he said when contacted here today.

It is understood that all those arrested were factory workers and food deliverymen, adding that police also seized drugs, condoms and audio system equipment in the raid.

"Preliminary urine screening tests found that 12 men and 5 women arrested in the raid tested positive for methamphetamine," he said.

He said all of them are remanded for four days to assist in the investigation.

-- BERNAMA