MAN ARRESTED FOR FORGING HONORARY AWARDS AND CEREMONIAL TITLES

IPOH, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- Police have detained a 41-year-old local man suspected of forging honorary awards and ceremonial titles in a special undercover operation known as ‘Ops Puyuh’ at a house in Taman Banjar Jaya, Teluk Intan yesterday.

Hilir Perak district police chief ACP Dr Bakri Zainal Abidin said the arrest was the result of intelligence and monitoring conducted by the arresting officers, together with officers from Hilir Perak district police headquarters (IPD) Commercial Crime Investigation Division (BSJK).

“The suspect is believed to have been involved in the forgery of honorary titles as well as falsifying the Malaysian Ex-Police Association documents to deceive certain parties.

“During initial questioning, the suspect admitted to being involved in the forgery of honorary titles and documents of the organisation. The case is still being investigated by BSJK officers at Hilir Perak IPD,” he said in a statement today.

He said several documents, including award certificates and permission to use ceremonial titles in official documents, various certificates, insignia, membership cards, as well as photographs of the suspect dressed in ceremonial attire with multiple fake honorary titles, were also seized.

Also seized were a Toyota Corolla Altis car with stickers and unrecognised honorific emblems, a mobile phone, and a SIM card believed to have been used for impersonation purposes.

The case is being investigated under Section 3 of Act 787 (Awards Act 2017), which provides penalties for offences related to the wearing or issuance of unauthorised honorary awards.

In a separate development, Bakri said police had detained eight local men, aged between 17 and 44 years, and seized over 220 cryptocurrency mining (Bitcoin) machines during a series of special operations targeting illegal mining activities in residential areas around Teluk Intan between Nov 5 and 11.

He said the operations, carried out by the Criminal Investigation Division (D7) of the Hilir Perak district police in cooperation with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM), also saw the confiscation of various supporting equipment such as modems, TP-Link devices, and computer accessories used for the illegal mining activities.

The seizures and arrests are being investigated under Section 427 of the Penal Code for mischief and Section 37 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 (Act 447) for unauthorised use of electricity.

At the same time, Bakri said the Hilir Perak Narcotics Crime Investigation Division seized drugs worth RM628,572 from January to October this year.

Among the largest seizures were 8,751.14 grammes of heroin worth RM437,557, followed by 2,369.2 grammes of cannabis worth RM118,460. Other drugs seized include methamphetamine, erimin, ketamine, ecstasy and mitragynine in various forms.

“These seizures demonstrate the effectiveness of enforcement operations carried out by the Narcotics Crime Investigation Division, including intelligence work, raids, and coordinated monitoring with relevant agencies,” he said.

Additionally, he also said road accident statistics in Hilir Perak showed a significant decrease of 28.71 per cent from January to October this year compared with the same period last year.

During the period, 1,773 cases were recorded compared with 2,487 cases in 2024, with all accident categories showing a declining trend.

Bakri also said the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Division carried out 107 planned operations, exceeding the target of 40 operations to ensure public safety and security. The operations included law enforcement, crime prevention and curbing street thugs.

“For traffic enforcement, 7,962 summonses were issued under Section 170A and POL 257, a decrease of 22.15 per cent compared with 10,227 summonses issued during the same period last year,” he added.

-- BERNAMA