PENANG police chief Comm Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan has commended the people of Penang for their cooperation in abiding by the standard operating procedure (SOP) during the ongoing movement control order (MCO).
“I must say that Penangites are highly cooperative with an SOP compliance rate of 98%,” Sahabudin, 56, said during an interview with Buletin Mutiara at the police headquarters in Penang Road.
While the Covid-19 cases in Penang seem to hover around 100 to 200 per day, Sahabudin strongly believes that the infectivity rate could be brought down.
“The very close cooperation between state Security Council, Health Ministry and the state government has made our job so much easier. We want to thank them.
“At one time, Penang was in the green zone for 109 straight days. The key to that success was cooperation from all quarters. If there is one word to describe the achievement, I would say ‘excellent’.
“I believe if everyone continues to cooperate, we can win the fight against Covid-19.”
Sahabudin, who hails from Kuala Terengganu, began his career with the Malaysian police in 1989, shortly after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from Pacific University in California.
He joined the police air unit which was engaged primarily with avionics engineering.
Later, he rose through the ranks to become the deputy Kedah police chief in 2017 and then got promoted to become the Deputy Director I of the Bukit Aman Logistics and Technology Department.
In a reshuffle, Sahabudin was appointed the Penang police chief on March 4, 2020.
However, just two weeks into the job as the Penang CPO, Sahabudin faced arguably his greatest challenge thus far when the movement control order (MCO) was enforced to curb the spread of Covid-19 on March 18, 2020.
“It was unprecedented. We’ve never come across this sort of virus transmission. The SOPs could change within 24 hours and we’ve to quickly adapt to the situation,” Sahabudin recalled.
“The MCO was a different ball game. We set up roadblocks to ensure SOPs were adhered to. And the good part of it was that the crime rate fell by 30 percent during the MCO.”
With the surge of Covid-19 cases and the re-imposition of the MCO on Jan 13, he said the police have stepped up their vigilance.
A total of 45 roadblocks have been set up throughout the state of Penang and they are manned by 843 police personnel, with assistance from the army, Rela, Malaysia Civil Defence Force and police volunteers.
To ensure that residents abide by the SOPs every day, he said a task force comprising 632 police personnel are active in all the five districts of the state.
For those who blatantly disregard the SOPs, Sahabudin said police issued compound notices to the offenders without hesitation.
Being on the frontline, it was not a surprise that several police personnel contracted the virus. Since March last year, a total of 498 police personnel and their family members have fallen victims to Covid-19.
Interestingly, as face masks were desperately sought last year as the Covid-19 became fraught, Sahabudin said 91 reports of cheating cases were lodged in the five police districts of Penang.
“The victims had ordered and paid for the face masks but they did not receive them. The total loss was over RM3.5 million. We detained 19 people and charged 10 of them,” he said.
He revealed that Penang police seized RM49 million worth of drugs in 2020 compared to RM15 million in 2019.
The Penang police, Sahabudin said, are aggressively clamping down on illegal gambling dens. They have carried out joint operations with Tenaga Nasional Berhad to cut out electricity supply to the illegal gambling premises.
On rising cybercrimes, he advised the public not to reveal their bank account numbers or other personal data when they receive calls from unknown persons.
He said many are hoodwinked into thinking that the caller is genuinely calling from the police or some authorities when the caller’s number is displayed on the screen of their handphones.
“Actually, these scammers are calling from another source using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and they sound convincing and genuine,” he said.
Last month, Penang police smashed a Macau scam with the arrest of 21 people comprising 13 Malaysians and eight Chinese nationals at two rented houses in Batu Ferringhi.
A total of 453 handphones, 19 laptops, one iPad, five computer cables, two cars and two sets of keys were seized.
“They were just starting to promote their investment to potential victims from China. We could not charge them for cheating because there is no victim yet. But we may charge them for infringing immigration rules,” Sahabudin said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi and Darwina Mohd Daud