KUALA TERENGGANU, Jan 30 — The Terengganu Road Transport Department (JPJ) detained eight operators of illegal school vans in the district of Kemaman in a four-day operation beginning on January 20.
Its director, Zulkarnain Yasin said the detention followed public complaints and investigation by the department’s intelligence unit and offenders could be prosecuted under Section 23 (2) of the Road Transport Act 1987 which carries a minimum fine of RM1,000 or a maximum of RM10,000 or imprisonment or both upon conviction.
“All those detained are aged between 30 and 50 years and inspection by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) found that they were not involved in drug abuse.
“They will be charged in court as the offence was very serious and currently the cases were being mentioned in court,” he told reporters after launching “Ops Tahun Baru Cina” here tonight.
He gave a serious warning to illegal operators of school vans who were still operating in other districts and to stop their activities as they endangered the schoolchildren’s safety as they had no insurance coverage.
Meanwhile, he said Terengganu JPJ was targeting to reduce accident cases involving motorcycles to 60 per cent only throughout “Ops Tahun Baru Cina” from yesterday (January 29) until February 12. — Bernama
