PENANG, Aug 27 — Last Saturday’s Ops Cantas in Penang raised an outcry among operators of entertainment centres and night spots.

It is not so much about the raid but the unprecedented presence of police personnel turning up in special squad gear.

This caused unnecessary fear among patrons including tourists, many of whom were regulars.

And the pub operators just do not like it.

Imagine some 15 to 20 policemen including heavily armed special squad personnel appearing from nowhere on the premises late in the evening.

The general manager of one of the raided pubs said he feared his business would be affected as customers were not used to seeing the place being ambushed by police wearing the “terrifying-looking” gear.

“As soon as those riot police look-alike entered the premises many of my customers were seen getting up to leave.

“Many were heard complaining the raid disrupted their mood,” he said.

He said there were police raids on the pub previously but it was the first time police conducted it wearing the gear.

“It looked as if they were looking for a bomb in my place,” he said.

Another nearby pub owner in Jalan Penang also expressed fear his place, spared the raid on Saturday, could be the next target.

“It is not wrong for police to carry spot checks but when they turn up in that sort of gear, they surely create fear especially among tourists.

“They think it is not safe for them to patronise entertainment centres or worse they may think Penang is not safe anymore and this will affect tourism as well,” he said.

He said his regulars told him they would stay away from entertainment outlets for the time being to avoid “unnecessary stress”.

State police CID chief SAC Mazlan Kesah said the special squad personnel would continue to be deployed as long as the Ops Cantas was in progress.

‘‘We are not out to scare people... we are just doing our work.

“This is normal under the circumstances.”