KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — Criminal activity in the nation’s capital plunged during the movement control order (MCO) period, particularly during the first few phases before it entered the conditional movement control order (CMCO), Parliament was told today.
Deputy Home Minister I Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said revealed that prior to the MCO, the police recorded up to 2,225 criminal cases in Kuala Lumpur from January 1 to March 17 this year.
“Before MCO, from January 1 to March 17, the police recorded 2,225 criminal cases. During the MCO, from March 18 to May 3, there were 546 criminal cases. During the CMCO, from May 4 to June 9 there were 708 criminal cases.
“During the recovery MCO (RMCO), from June 10 to June 30 there were 488 cases. Keep in mind, we are still in the RMCO phase,” said Ismail to the question by Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-DAP).
Later, in his reply to a supplementary question by Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (Kuala Krai-PAS), the deputy minister said that motorcycle theft comprised the most criminal cases in Kuala Lumpur during MCO, but did not reveal statistics for the period.
Touching on online scams, Ismail said that the police are considering reclassifying them under the serious crime index.
Pandan MP and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had pointed out to the Lower House of a media report claiming that online scams have been removed from the serious crimes index and had been reclassified as online crime instead.
“Yes, there are a few commercial crimes such as online scams as said by Pandan MP. These two categories do not fall under the serious crimes index and the police are studying whether these commercial crimes should be classified and handled as online crime,” said Ismail.
