SEBERANG PERAI, April 27 — A group of men who couldn’t wait till after the movement control order (MCO) is lifted to get their hair cut were arrested at a secretly opened hair salon when police raided the place today.

North Seberang Perai district police chief ACP Noorzainy Mohd Noor said they received a tip-off that there was an illegal gathering in a shop along Jalan Mengkuang here.

"Acting on the information received, we raided the hair salon and arrested 13 men who were gathered inside the shop,” he said.

He said the shop was secretly opened and customers were allowed to enter and wait their turn for a haircut.

It is learnt that the shop owner was not present when the police raided the shop, but his brother was there to open the door and a worker was there to give haircuts.

The federal government had initially announced that barbers are allowed to open during the MCO but later withdraw the permission.

The Penang state government has also announced that barbers and hair salons are not allowed to operate during the MCO.

Other than the 13 men, Noorzainy said the police has arrested another 20 people for breaching the MCO since this morning.

He noted that there was two new novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases reported in North Seberang Perai recently.

"We have to continue with what we are doing to tighten security and ensure everyone complies with the MCO,” he said.

He added that the police will also work closely with the health department to control the spread of the virus among the community.