KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― There is no need to use the National Security Council (NSC) Act to deal with the spate of shooting cases which have taken place this year, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said today.
“I think no need. It has not reached that level (to use NSC),” he told reporters after launching the KPD Mart Community here today.
NSC, which gives wide ranging powers to authorities once an area is declared a security area, will come into effect beginning August 1.
Yesterday, a moneylender died after a drive-by shooting by two men in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, adding to a long list of such shootings this year.
Khalid said that police did not see the need to take drastic action to curb such shootings, saying that such killings are not random.
“These are not some crazy men shooting left and right. Every shooting case has its motive. There is a motive. But let us investigate,” he said when asked to respond to PAS Youth's assertion yesterday that the spate of shootings had made Malaysia a “cowboy country”.
Khalid also said he did not see a “trend” in hired hitmen either.
“I'm not denying they happen, but from what we can see it's not such a desperate situation that requires drastic action,” he added.
He said that the firearms being used in the shootings could have been easily smuggled into the country.
“We have a wide and long border stretch. There's plenty of forest, and there is no fence there,” he said.
“But we are taking the necessary steps to deal with this,” Khalid added.
