No money is no excuse under Ops Warta

KUALA LUMPUR: From the usual plea of ignorance to claiming they have no money to pay up – offenders tracked down during the latest Ops Warta operation by the police are using whatever excuses they can think up to try get off the hook.

Federal traffic chief Senior Asst Comm Mohd Fuad Abdul Latiff had said recently that his team would not entertain such excuses.

“There are many ways of checking for outstanding summonses so do not expect us to let you off easily,” he had said.

In Malacca, state traffic staff officer DSP Mohd Sham Abdullah said a man with 79 traffic summonses who was flagged down at an Ops Warta roadblock on Monday had his car impounded.

“The man, in his 30s, had accumulated the summonses, mostly for speeding, over the past five years.

“He is clearly a habitual offender and the law allows police to impound the vehicle,’’ he said.

He also revealed that “I have no money for the summonses” was a popular excuse.

He said most offenders were aware that they had unsettled summonses yet “took the easy way out by not paying”.

Most of the offenders, he said, also asked for leniency or discounts on their summonses.

“However, the options are not available for now. They have to pay up or face the music.”

In Penang, state traffic and public order chief Supt Ibrahim Abu Bakar said they use the soft approach when they visit the offenders in their homes by advising them to pay up at the nearest police station.

“We have 14,540 outstanding arrest warrants for various offences committed.

“I hope the offenders will pay up and not wait for us to turn up at their houses,” he said yesterday after visiting his men at an Ops Warta roadblock near the Sungai Nyior toll plaza.

The common reasons given for not settling the summonses are that they have forgotten or they have handed them over to their relatives without following up.

Traffic police counters will be opened from 8am to 8pm daily until the end of the operation on June 27.

343 arrests made so far