JPJ may go undercover to catch vehicle owners renting cars to foreigners without driving licence

KUALA LUMPUR: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) is mulling going undercover to detect individuals who rent their vehicles to foreigners without a driving licence.

JPJ senior enforcement director Muhammad Kifli Ma Hassan said they would also use social media to find those involved in such activities.

"We will get our personnel to monitor social media for advertisements and go undercover as potential clients.

"This is in order to detect those who were willing to rent their vehicles to foreigners who do not have valid driver's licences," he told reporters at a joint operation at the Duta Toll Plaza on Friday (May 17).

JPJ director-general Datuk Rospiagos Taha, JPJ deputy director-general (planning and operations) Aedy Fadly Ramli and Kuala Lumpur JPJ director Mohd Zaki Ismail were also present.

He said this after they detected a car being driven by a foreigner without a valid driver's license during the operations.

"When we questioned the driver, he told us he rented the vehicle to drive to Penang and back.

"We will be calling the owner of the vehicle to help us with further investigations into this case," he said.

He said they also detected an individual using a fake licence during the operation.

"While this motorist was issued a summons for using a fake document, we will also be conducting further checks to see where he acquired it from," he said.

Zaki said they checked a total of 3,630 vehicles during the operations and took action against 318 of them.

"A total of 143 personnel from JPJ, the police Traffic Investigations and Enforcement Department, Immigration Department, National Anti Drug Agency and Environment Department were involved in the operations which began at around 8pm.

"We seized eight motorcycles and 15 cars for various offences. The National Anti-Drug Agency also checked 37 individuals and detained 10 of them for testing positive for methamphetamines and ganja.

"The Immigration Department also made seven arrests for various immigration offences during the operations," he said adding that a total of 416 summonses were issued by his department during the operations.