JOHOR BAHRU, Jan 30 — Johor police arrested 716 people, comprising 532 migrants and 184 skippers, in operations between April and December last year aimed at tackling the issue of migrant smuggling in the state.

Johor Police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said of the total, 77 suspects, including 19 enforcement officers, had been prosecuted for organised crimes under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 and six others under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (POCA).

According to the Johor Police Performance Report for 2020 and Johor Police chief's message, that was circulated to the media today, five senior officers and 225 police personnel were subjected to disciplinary action last year.

Of the total, he said one senior officer and 43 personnel were charged in court, four senior officers and 53 personnel were interdicted from duty, 12 personnel were suspended and 46 personnel were fired due to drug offences and misconduct.

"Last year, the state Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) managed to arrest 19,013 suspects for various drug offences and seized 2,765 kilogrammes of drugs worth RM33 million and properties worth RM14 million,” he said.

According to Ayob Khan, the state NCID also solved 22,000 cold cases from 2011 to 2019.

Meanwhile, the state CID managed to solve 3,960 or 53.88 per cent of the 7,350 criminal cases, thus exceeding the stipulated key performance indicator (KPI) of 45 per cent.

In a bid to to combat prostitution, he said Johor police conducted 2,745 Op Dadu raids last year, compared to 2,185 in 2019, and arrested 4,579 suspects and confiscated RM1.35 million.

"On efforts to prevent and eliminate property crime cases in the state, police carried out various operations, such as Op Lejang, Op Pintu and Op Rentap, and nabbed 3,613 suspects. Of the total, 1,793 of them have been charged in court while 86 others were prosecuted under POCA,” he said.

Ayob Khan said the Commercial CID achieved a KPI of 95 per cent, exceeding the 85 per cent target, following the arrest of 2,326 suspects.

The state Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department, meanwhile, carried out 3,504 operations last year and nabbed 1,710 individuals.

"A total of one million summonses were issued last year while the compound collection was RM26 million,” he said. — Bernama