The police are now clamping down on fancy number plates, and one man that was caught didn’t just leave his anger in the four windows of his car. Disputing police actions, he let fly and recorded a video that went viral over the weekend. He has now been caught.

Johor Baru Selatan district police chief ACP Mohd Padzli Mohd Zain said that the man was detained on Saturday at the Seri Indah police station for uttering abusive words and recording the police while doing their job. The 36-year-old local was not satisfied when he received two summonses for using a fancy number plate and modifications to his car exhaust at a roadblock on Jalan Mutiara Emas Putih, Bernama reported.

Checks revealed that the suspect had a past drug-related criminal record. He has been remanded for three days to assist investigations under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing civil servants from carrying out their duties.

Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay has come out to add that police action on fancy number plates “was a well-founded decision,” according to the national news agency. He said the excuse given by the driver that he had been using the number plate for over 10 years cannot be accepted.

“Yesterday a video of a man disputing police action over the matter went viral, but we have good reasons to issue him a summons as the number plate did not adhere to the requirements. He may have been using it for the past 10 years, but no action was taken. But I am enforcing the rule now,” he told reporters yesterday.

Meanwhile, Bukit Aman traffic investigation and enforcement department (JSPT) director Datuk Azisman Alias told Mingguan Malaysia that from 2019 till December 15, PDRM has issued 365,410 summonses to owners of vehicles with number plates that do not follow standard specifications. Of the total, 183,509 summonses were issued this year.

According to JSPT stats, motorcycles made up the bulk of the summonses at 226,142, followed by 118,372 for cars and 12,632 for 4WDs. Azisman said the stats show that motorists are not taking it seriously and fancy number plates are the easiest of offences to avoid.

Last week, it was reported that Johor police will hunt for fancy plates without discrimination. If found guilty, the vehicle owner can be charged under Section 14 (4) of the Road Transport Act 1987, read together with Section 119 of the same act. For the first offence, one can be fined an amount not over RM3,000 or six months jail, while for the second offence, it’s a fine of no more than RM4,000 or 12 months jail.

The term fancy number plates covers non-standard fonts (italic, serif fonts, etc) and the rearrangement of letters and numbers (MAF 14 to MAFIA, for instance). So, make sure your number plates are in the standard format, unless you think that being slapped with a saman is fancy.