JPJ seeks to forfeit illegally operated private taxis

Illegal private taxi operators may lose their vehicles for repeated offences as the road transport department (JPJ) is in discussion with the attorney-general’s chambers to seek the forfeiture of repeat offenders’ vehicles, reported New Straits Times.

Discussions with the AGC have been ongoing for the past three months, said JPJ director-general of planning and operations Datuk Jazmanie Shafawi. The department wants to put a stop to repeat offenders as fines did not pose an issue to illegal private taxi operators as they can earn between RM10,000 to RM30,000 a month, he said.

“When they are issued fines, they just settle them and continue. The fines are not working, so we are looking at a more drastic approach that will hit them where it hurt,” Jazmanie told reporters following Op Ulat against illegal private taxi operators at KLIA Terminal 1 yesterday. “We have proposed the forfeiture of vehicles used by prebet sapu operators to the AGC. We are hoping for a favourable decision on this,” Jazemanie said.

Jazmanie said that investigations by the JPJ found that a driver charged RM100 for a trip from KLIA to a hotel in Kota Warisan, Sepang, while others charged more than RM300 from the airport to Kuala Lumpur, according to the report.

Op Ulat began on November 25, and the department detained 15 drivers and seized 15 vehicles including luxury sedans, MPVs and vans, while those detained were 11 Malaysians and four foreign nationals, the NST report wrote.

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