JOHOR BARU, March 6 — The Johor police today warned the public to avoid unauthorised entry and trespassing into gazetted prohibited areas, including palace grounds.

Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the palace, its grounds and other similar gazetted protected places in the state were restricted areas as defined under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959.

"I wish to remind the public that any person who commits an offence or a violation of the Act as provided under Section 8 can be arrested without bail.

"Under Section 9 of the same Act, the authorities are empowered to arrest offenders and even to the extent of causing voluntary death,” he said here today.

Mohd Khalil said police viewed any form of unauthorised entry and trespassing of restricted or protected areas by individuals or groups as a serious offence.

He said from 2016 to March 5 of this year, a total of 33 cases of trespassing at protected areas and places in Johor were recorded.

The state’s top cop was responding to two recent cases of unauthorised entry and attempted theft in Istana Bukit Serene and an attempted trespass at the Istana Pasir Pelangi.

Last week, Malay Mail reported both incidents with the first being unauthorised entry and attempted theft of a Ferrari supercar belonging to the Sultan of Johor on March 1, followed by the attempted trespass by a motorcyclist at the Istana Pasir Pelangi on Sunday.