JOHOR BAHRU: Johor police today advised the public not to make false police reports on lost identity cards (IC) to avoid being fined by the National Registration Department (NRD) as this could get them into trouble with the law.
State police chief Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said between January and July this year, 100 cases of false police reports were recorded by the Johor Bahru Selatan district police headquarters (JBS IPD), with 32 of the cases charged in court.
“These 32 cases were charged under Section 182 of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term not exceeding six months or a fine of up to RM2,000, or both, for making a false police report.
“I urge the public not to take this lightly. Don’t simply create stories as we will thoroughly investigate the police reports lodged.
“This has been my directive since way back. If there are such reports made, we will investigate it as there are genuine cases of victims (of snatch theft or robbery) losing their identity cards. However, there are also those trying to avoid paying a fine imposed by the NRD,” he told reporters after a working visit to the JBS IPD, here, today.
Wan Ahmad said the investigating officer himself would probe each police report lodged, by taking the victim to the location where he or she claimed to be robbed and to relate the incident as it happened.
“Usually their statement and police report will be conflicting, while some pretend not to remember what actually happened.
“After investigating the case, we often find that they had made the police report out of fear of being fined by the NRD, and actually lost their identity card due to their own negligence.”
He said out of the 100 false police reports lodged, 62 were being investigated while six were still being heard in court as the complainants had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to the NRD website, those losing their ICs for the first-time will be fined RM100, RM300 for the second time and RM1,000 for the third time, excluding the application fee.
To replace a lost IC for the first time, applicants can go straight to the NRD counter, while for the second and subsequent replacement applications, they must first make a police report about the loss before applying at the NRD counter.
The application for the replacement of an IC after the third and subsequent loss will be investigated before the IC is replaced.
In the meantime, a temporary identity document will be given to all applicants before the replacement IC is issued to them.