KUANTAN: Married couples living in different states were among the travellers causing congestion along the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway near the Gombak toll plaza on Sunday.
State police chief Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan said checks conducted at the roadblocks within Pahang revealed the highway users had valid police permits to travel across state and district boundaries.
"All the vehicles which passed through the Bentong toll plaza had valid police permits. A majority of them were married people who crossed state borders to meet up with their spouses, and were returning towards Kuala Lumpur.
"Police had intensified checks at roadblocks during the Aidilfitri holidays and only those with valid documents were allowed to continue their journey," he said in a text message.
He was commenting on the images of traffic congestion along the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway near the Gombak toll plaza heading towards Kuala Lumpur which had caused the public to question if some quarters had seized the opportunity to balik kampung for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Meanwhile, Bentong police chief Superintendent Zaiham Mohd Kahar said policemen manning the roadblock at the Bentong toll plaza had conducted detailed checks on the travellers and their permits.
"We inspected each vehicle travelling to the east coast and only vehicles with valid permits were allowed to continue their journey or else the driver would be told to turn back (towards Kuala Lumpur).
"Since we had previously caught travellers using fake travel permits at the Bentong toll plaza, policemen were extra vigilant to ensure road users do not take the chance to return to their hometowns during Aidilfitri," he said.
On the possibility of using rural roads to escape the road blocks, Zaiham said policemen had set up roadblocks at the Pahang-Negri Sembilan and Pahang-Selangor borders.
"We have men around-the-clock at the roadblock in Manchis (Pahang-Negri Sembilan border) and Bukit Tinggi (Pahang-Selangor border). There is no escape as motorists who have passed the Bentong toll plaza (interstate) will later be required to undergo inter-district checks when they exit the East Coast Highway," he said.