JELI: Thai van operators are abusing travel permits to run illegal transport services by picking up passengers after they cross the border on foot.
Kelantan Road Transport Department (RTD) director Mohd Misuari Abdullah said these operators instruct passengers to walk through the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complex before picking them up on the Malaysian side.
Misuari said the drivers are abusing the International Circulation Permit (ICP).
“When applying for the permit at the complex, drivers claim the private vehicle is only carrying the driver. Those on board are told to walk through the complex and are picked up later,” he said.
Misuari said the department has detected numerous cases of ICP abuse.
“They are cunning,” he said at a press conference during Ops Khas Tunggak here last night.
Between Jan 16 and yesterday, the department inspected 67 Thai vans and took action against 42 of them.
Offences included operating without an ICP, failing to display the permit, and technical violations such as tinted windows.
“Ops Khas Tunggak focuses on foreign vehicles, particularly from Thailand. We conducted intelligence work and found their entry has been active over the past few days,” he said.
Last year, the department took action against 277 Thai vehicles during the same operation in Kelantan, collecting RM99,100 in fines.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
