PENANG: Helicopters may be used to monitor the movement of lorries carrying factory goods worth millions of ringgit to prevent such vehicles from being hijacked, said state police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Othman Talib.
Suggesting the idea to the Free Industrial Zone Penang Companies Association as a security measure, DCP Othman said: “Another measure is to have a special ops room which will be linked to the transport companies vehicle tracking system. But this will have to be studied thoroughly before the streamlining can be done.
“The possibility of having the lorries moving in a convoy will also be studied. We are able to provide armed policemen on either motorcycles or in multi-purpose vehicles to follow the convoy.
“Another alternative is to ensure that every lorry is equipped with a Global Positioning System or a sophisticated two-way communication system so that every movement can be monitored in real time.”
DCP Othman, who was speaking to over 200 representatives from the various factories during a three-hour dialogue in Bayan Lepas’ Free Industrial Zone yesterday, said an action plan would be drawn up very soon.
Three hijack cases involving liquid crystal displays, DVD-RW drives and certificates of authenticity stickers worth about RM5mil were reported stolen in the FIZ between Aug 29 and Sept 30.
Balik Pulau OCPD Superintendent Abdul Wahab Embong, who was present at the function, said factory owners need not worry as such cases were not very rampant.
However, he said the transport companies must take their own steps to prevent a recurrence.
