JOHOR BAHRU: Online fraud cases made up the bulk of commercial crime in Johor during the first half of this year, at 88.9 per cent.

Johor police chief CP M. Kumar said the figure was very worrying and advised the public to refer to the ‘SemakMule CCID’ portal before making any transactions.

“I call on the local community and media practitioners to channel information related to this online crime to police immediately. Check bank accounts and phone numbers at SemakMule CCID,” he said at the monthly assembly of the Johor police contingent headquarters here today.

He said various successes had been achieved by the Johor contingent during the first six months of this year, including solving the kidnapping case of Albertine Leo Jia Hui, 6, who went missing at a shopping mall in Iskandar Puteri, on July 20.

Kumar said a total of 1,146 cases involving gambling and immoral activities had been brought to court while a total of 12,678 arrests were made for various drug offences with the confiscation of 2.76 tons of drugs worth RM31.29 million.

“A total of 429 drug addicts (those with prior admissions or conviction) were also detained under Section 39C of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and 83 were detained under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985,” he said.

According to Kumar, a total of RM2.9 million was collected from 16,606 summonses and 88 cases of property crimes, house burglaries and vehicle thefts were resolved, with 36 people charged in court for various criminal offences.

He also expressed appreciation to the community for channelling information to the police and media practitioners for delivering accurate and authentic information.