POLICE are working with local councils to identify abandoned vehicles, particularly those linked to criminal activities.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said local councils that towed abandoned vehicles to their depots would first check with the police if the vehicles were stolen.
“Local councils will check with police headquarters, and if police identify the vehicles as stolen, they will seize the cars for investigations,” he said in response to a complaint highlighted by Actionline.
Wan Najmuddin said police would help the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry and government agencies to find a solution to the overcrowding of abandoned vehicles at depots.
“The ministry will hold workshops soon and police have been brought in to find a solution for the problem.
“We will focus on stolen vehicles that been abandoned.”
Actionline has found two open spaces in Kota Damansara, Selangor, that had been turned into an illegal scrapyard for vehicles.
Thirteen vehicles have been left to rust there.
Residents said the vehicles could become breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes, rats, and snakes.
They were also worried that criminals would abandon stolen vehicles in their residential areas.