However, he said only inspectors or higher-ranked officers may issue these fines, adding that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had agreed to the decision.

“The AGC has allowed the police to issue compound fines immediately on-site to individuals breaching SOPs,” he said in a live-streamed press conference today.

Ismail also said Putrajaya has instructed the Prisons Department to come up with new SOPs for prisons and detention centres, following the spike in Covid-19 cases.

Noting that cases in prisons and centres have contributed a large portion to the daily increase in cases, he said the government viewed this matter seriously.

“We have agreed to ask the Prisons Department to propose new SOPs. This includes rules for transporting detainees to court to be charged and the SOPs for moving detainees to other prisons,” he said.

He said the old SOPs could be one of the reasons behind the rise in the number of cases in prisons, adding that new SOPs may be able to prevent the easy spread.

Ismail said 357 people were arrested by police yesterday for breaching the ongoing recovery movement control order (RMCO), with 320 of them fined, 35 remanded and two granted bail.

The majority of them were caught for failing to record their personal details when entering shops (123) and not wearing masks (167).

The others were arrested for not practising physical distancing, breaching quarantine orders, leaving their homes in areas under a conditional MCO and failing to produce valid documents to the police.

Police also detained 38 undocumented migrants and six smugglers yesterday as part of its ongoing Ops Benteng campaign. They also confiscated eight vehicles.

He said Putrajaya will be tightening border controls in Sabah’s east coast to prevent undocumented migrants from entering the country, with more security forces and assets deployed.

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