48 notices issued to premises owners over illegal building structures

Tumpat district police chief ACP Amran Dollah said the operation was mounted by the police with nine other enforcement agencies including MDT, General Operations Force and Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs involving 104 enforcement officers.

He said premises owners were instructed to submit a complete plan within 14 days and if they failed, follow-up actions under Section 70(1) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 would be imposed against them.

He told this to reporters at a media conference at the Tumpat district police headquarters, today.

According to Amran, the operation was conducted for 24 hours from noon yesterday and within that period the authorities mounted inspections on 32 illegal jetties, three storage facilities and seven premises.

He said the team confiscated a total of 50 boxes containing smuggled cigarettes valued at RM350,000 which were abandoned on the riverbank near Kampung Pasir Pekan Hilir and 120 litres of petrol worth RM256 and 80 litres of diesel valued at RM172 along with measuring equipment which was found at Pengkalan Kubor.

"A man in his 30s was also arrested near an illegal jetty in Pengkalan Kubor and is being investigated under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 15(1)(a) of the same act," he said, adding that police checked 697 men and 236 women as well as 638 vehicles of various types during the operation.