.JPEG "Police and Armed Forces personnel conduct checks on vehicles at the Jawi Toll Plaza in Penang May 19, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today said that the number of people attempting interstate travel to return to their hometowns for Hari Raya Aidilfitri continued to rise, with 3,212 motorists ordered to turn back nationwide yesterday.
He said this figure was much higher than the one announced earlier this week, which was close to 1,000 vehicles.
“This means there are still many who are keen to return to their hometowns for Hari Raya Aidilfitri and they tried to sneak their way past the roadblocks.
“At present, the police are strict on this matter and will not allow anyone to cross state borders,” he said during his daily Covid-19 press briefing.
Yesterday’s figures were a significant increase compared to the 1,633 motorists who had attempted to cross the state borders on Monday.
The government has on numerous occasions reminded Malaysians that they will not be allowed to return to their hometowns or villages this Hari Raya Aidilfitri under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).
Ismail Sabri reiterated that intrastate travel is not allowed unless for emergency cases.
He said exemptions are only given for cases such as death of a close family member and also cases subjected for approval by the police.
On a related matter, Ismail Sabri said the police had issued compounds to 51 individuals as of yesterday for violating the CMCO’s standard operating procedure (SOP).
“The police also detained 44 individuals for violating the CMCO, with 40 individuals being remanded and four individuals on bail,” he said.
Ismail Sabri, who is also the defence minister, said police conducted 216 roadblocks nationwide yesterday, and inspected 318,082 vehicles
In addition to that, he said a total of 77,537 inspections were conducted yesterday to monitor and enforce the CMCO’s compliance nationwide, including 4,883 supermarkets, 4,572 restaurants, 697 hawkers, 1,260 factories and 3,878 banks.
“Inspections were also conducted at 1,108 land transport terminals, 208 sea transport terminals and 107 air transport terminals where 32,670 private vehicles, 2,369 public vehicles and 461 vessels were also checked.
“At the same time, 2,814 public markets, 3,894 places of worship, 1,546 recreational areas and 462 construction sites were inspected,” said Ismail Sabri.
