NIBONG TEBAL: The Road Transport Department (RTD) is not ruling out the possibility that the torching of five vehicles, including three belonging to the department yesterday, could be the work of clone car syndicates.
RTD deputy director-general (operation) Datuk Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman said this was because the other two cars, which also went up in flames, were believed to be cloned cars, impounded by the department recently.
He said the two cloned Volvos, belonging to different owners, were seized on Dec 18 last year and Jan 30 this year.
He added that the department was in the process of taking the cars to the Chemistry Department for further testing, to determine if they were really cloned.
"The owners of the impounded cars may be angry with us because they know they will never get back their vehicles...we never know.
“But there is a possibility that this may be the work of clone car syndicates,” he told a press conference at the department’s Valdor enforcement station today.
He was here to lead the Ops Tanjung operation against heavy vehicles.
Wan Ahmad said initial report from Kuala Kangsar RTD also confirmed that there was a hole in the fence at the scene, but added he was not at liberty to confirm if it was an act of arson.
Asked if the department had been threatened prior to the incident, he replied in the positive.
"Based on the report I received, we did receive threat," he added.
Wan Ahmad said, as enforcement agencies, they were used to being threatened.
“We are unfazed by the latest attack.
“However, we will leave it to the police to investigate the incident,” he added.
Five vehicles, including three belonging to the department, were torched at its premises in Kuala Kangsar yesterday, in what is believed to be an arson attack.
Meanwhile, Wan Ahmad said they had formed a security unit at the RTD headquarters and state level to beef up security within the premises.
He said closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) were also installed.
Meanwhile, on the Ops Tanjung, Wan Ahmad said in the operation between Jan 29 and Feb 4, the department has issued 6,496 notices against heavy vehicles' users.
Of the total, 1,279 lorries were found to be carrying items above their permissible weightage, which is deemed a danger to other road users.