POLICE have long declared an all-out war against organised crime groups in the country and have been conducting operations to track members down.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department deputy director (intelligence/operations) Datuk Huzir Mohamed said since January 2016, his men had been waging a “war” against such groups.
He said federal Serious Crime unit policemen and the Special Task Force on Organised Crime officers had been aided by state policemen.
“Now, we can drag all these organised crime group members to justice and detain them for 28 days under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) before they are charged.
“Before this, we could take action only against the person who committed the crime and those who abetted him, but the person who ordered the crime to be committed gets away with it,” he told the New Straits Times Press.
He said by using sections 130V and 130W of the Penal Code for being a member of and assisting an organised crime group, respectively, police could detain everyone.
“All actions are being taken under Chapter 6 (organised crime), which is a category of security offences under Sosma.
“This is because the crimes undertaken by these organisations are seen as being able to destabilise the nation’s harmony, besides threatening the lives and security of the people.”
He said since the force had gone big against organised crime groups, the number of crimes such groups were involved in had declined.
Organised crime groups are defined as groups of two or more people involved in serious crimes, have a direction and are in search of money, power and influence.
Some of the crimes these groups are involved in are murder, armed robbery, trafficking in drugs, firearms or people, intimidation, kidnapping and extortion.