Cops' MISSING GUNS the mystery source of supply to the triads, gangsters?

KUALA LUMPUR - The 2012 Augitor-General's report showed that at least RM1.3 million in assets, including firearms, vehicles and handcuffs were lost by the Malaysian police over the past three years.

The report, which highlighted many instances of wastage, was presented to Parliament on Tuesday.

The news especially as regards the 'missing' firearms can be expected to anger and even alarm Malaysians, who have been frightened by a spate of violent crimes and shootings.

It is telling that the Auditor's report did not state exactly what sort of firearms were involved but guns are the obvious inference. Some even warn that it could include high-performance machine guns and not just hand revolvers.

"We have been asking where did the gangsters get their guns? The Inspector General of Police and the Home Minister have even put up draconian amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act because they say they need to be able to detain people without trial in order to combat crime. They also launched Ops Cantas which I understand has rounded up more than 10,000 bad hats. Now it is laughable that the guns missing from the police armory may have fallen into wrong hands," MP for Wangsa Maju Tan Kee Kwong told Malaysia Chronicle.

"The police must not only explain to the public but also tighten up their operations. Where are the checks and balances? The armory must surely have a log of details. Why wasn't there discipline in maintaining what went in and out? How can we have guns disappearing without a trace? It is clear the police have been lax and they must close up the loopholes."

Poor internal system of detection

The missing 'firearms' formed 14.2% of the total RM1.33 million losses recorded during the period 2010 to 2012. Handcuffs formed the largest portion of missing items at 50.5%.

In his report, the Auditor-General also noted delays in the discovery of the missing assets as well as in the reporting of the losses to the department head, and in preparing an initial report on the missing assets.

The report also stated that there were still many missing cases in 2010 and 2011 that had yet to be solved, as well as surcharges that have yet to be collected.

"Besides that, records in Bukit Aman and state police contingent headquarters containing information on missing assets and the status of investigations need to be coordinated," it added.

Customs also slip-shod

Malaysia's Customs Department was also not spared. The Auditor General found that RM602,089 worth of shoes bought for its staff were destroyed because of wrong specification.

department destroyed the 7,659 pairs of new footwear purchased in 2009 for staff after finding that the quality of the shoes and boots had degraded after being kept in its store for three years.

The report said the sizes also did not meet the needs of the officers.

Sample tests conducted by the Science Technology Research Institute of Defence found that the soles of the shoes had turned brittle and split, said the Auditor-General.

According to the report, the goods were part of the department's uniform distributed to its staff with each person allocated two pairs of shoes before the end of April every year.

Malaysia Chronicle