'Fine' day for Singapore cars

JOHOR BARU: Malaysian police are after Singapore-registered vehicles which have not settled their fines for unpaid traffic summonses.

Johor Baru (South) traffic chief Deputy Supt Ooi Kok Seong said about four million summonses were issued to foreign vehicles, especially Singapore cars, since 2005.

“Police are conducting an operation dubbed Ops Warta Singapura against owners of vehicles who have not paid the fines.

“The operation began on the second week of May and so far we managed to collect more than RM60,000 in fines from Singaporeans.

“The police roadblocks are at the exit points from the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Bukit Chagar here,” DSP Ooi said here yesterday.

He said police would take stern action against owners of foreign vehicles who had yet to settle their fines either by not allowing them to return to their country or spend a night in jail.

DSP Ooi said police were not targeting them but only wanted to remind them to pay up their fines.

“The Singapore police are also doing the same thing to Malaysian-registered vehicles each time Malaysians return from the island republic,” he said.

DSP Ooi said some of the Singaporeans blame ignorance for not paying their fines.

He said recently a Singaporean was stopped by police after he accumulated more than 30 summonses with fines totalling RM4,060.

“Foreigners should check online at the e-government service portal MyEG to know if they have any outstanding summonses,” he said.