KUALA LUMPUR: Le Tour de Langkawi (LTDL) event organisers guaranteed the safety of the participants, teams and the general public despite news of a bomb threat during the fourth stage race from Seri Manjung, Perak to Tanah Rata on Saturday.
Chief executive officer Emir Abdul Jalal said, since the first stage of the race, as much as 250 police officers have been following the race and will maintain their posts until the end of the race on March 1.
He added, a further 10,000 state officers are involved throughout the race based on the areas covered by the cycling tournament to ensure safety.
"It (the bomb threat) is still under investigation, we're not sure of the motive, we have to wait and see, and are not sure of what the outcome is but we (as organisers) can't make any kind of assumptions."
"Security details will be tightened from stage five onwards.
"There are no reasons to worry because the police are under control of the situation and because we're unsure of the motive involved, the bomb threat is not our issue to resolve," he said.
Earlier, members of the public who were at the Jalan Ipoh intersection in Lumut were shocked when a man shouted that he has a bomb in the Mercedes Benz that he drove in.
In the incident which occurred roughly at 11am on Saturday, the man was said to have left his vehicle in the middle on the road near the intersection's traffic lights with the engine still running and the driver side door opened.
At around 4pm, the car remained at its original position while the police's bomb squad unit arrived at the scene.