Police will act against the members of the 49 identified secret societies, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said Thursday.

He said the action against them would be taken under the Societies Act and other laws relating to crime.

"For those who want to become secret society members, they must be prepared to face the law on crimes and the Societies Act," he told reporters when met at the Selangor Police Aidilfitri Open House, in Shah Alam.

He was commenting on the announcement of the 49 secret societies by the Home Ministry on Thursday.

Khalid described these groups were similar as they were involved in criminal activities such as blackmail, rioting, murder, assaults and drug abuse, and said that the police would be tracking down all those involved under the 'Ops Cantas' exercise.

Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi, at a media conference, said the 49 secret societies had been declared illegal.

He said the secret societies were found to be involved in activities such as operating drug trafficking syndicates, blackmail, fighting among secret societies and chaos.

"They also carried out murders using firearms or sharp weapons like parang and knives," he said.

Khalid said that police would not compromise in their action against politicians who were found to be involved in secret societies.

"Currently, we have not heard of any politician being involved in secret societies, but if proven to be true, we will take the appropriate action," he said.

He was commenting on a newspaper report on Wednesday which alleged that there were secret societies headed by politicians in the country.