PETALING JAYA, July 31 — A visibly-troubled Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar yesterday declared “police are having sleepless nights” in dealing with the sudden increase in gun violence in the country.
“Do you think we are sitting down and doing nothing?” Khalid shot back at reporters.
He said this when besieged by reporters to comment on the recent spate of shooting cases.
“Don’t make assumptions that we are not doing anything. We are concerned and are continuously working to solve this,” Khalid said after launching the road safety campaign “Ops Selamat” in Sunway Pyramid.
He said the force was having meetings after meetings to solve the shootings.
“I assure you that we will get to the bottom of this. We promise to improve and increase our intelligence and operations in order to get ahead of our investigations.”
He said that while shooting cases were becoming rampant, police have seized many weapons in recent weeks.
“If you have been following media reports, you will see that we have also been making arrests and weapon seizures.”
He said a task force, headed by Federal CID director Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah, has identified certain groups of firearms smugglers in Sungai Golok.
“The task force is tracking down these gangs and have increased security checks along the borders.”
As the Emergency Ordinance has been abolished in 2011, Khalid hoped the replacementlaw, promised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, will be tabled in Parliament soon to help the police tackle such crimes better.
In Kuala Lumpur, city police chief Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the rise in shootings has yet to reach an alarming level.
“It is still under control. City folk need not worry as the shootings are due to certain motives such as business and gang rivalries,” said Mohmad.
He said the authorities should step up border security to curb firearms smuggling.
