GEORGE TOWN: A total of 173,000 obscene VCDs and DVDs were among contraband items worth RM1.27mil crushed by a steamroller during a disposal exercise by the district police headquarters, says Penang police chief Comm Datuk Dennis Lim Kwang Keng.
Comm Lim said said the disposal was carried out after the George Town police headquarters obtained approval from the Deputy Public Prosecutor's office under Section 407(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
"The disposal exercise was conducted after we received the necessary approvals from the Deputy Public Prosecutor and the courts.
"This enables us to dispose of case exhibits that have accumulated in our store after investigations and court proceedings have been completed," he told reporters during the exercise at the district police headquarters on Friday (July 10).
Comm Lim said beside VCDs and DVDs, 1,722 cartons of contraband cigarettes, 1,913 bottles of liquor, 726 gambling machines and 25 units of entertainment equipment were also destroyed.
He said this involved exhibits and evidence from 565 investigation papers.
Comm Lim said the exhibits comprised 218 investigation papers handled by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and 347 investigation papers by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID).
He said the CID cases involved exhibits from 15 contraband cases, nine Ops Noda cases and 194 cases from Ops Dadu, while the CCID exhibits were mainly related to cases involving obscene VCDs and DVDs.
He thanked the Deputy Public Prosecutor's office and the courts for their cooperation in expediting the approval process, allowing police to clear case exhibits from storage once legal proceedings had concluded.
