Stiffer Penalties For Scrap Iron Thefts

The Sabah government has instructed the state prosecutor's office to draft out new laws in order to impose stiffer penalties for scrap iron theives and those buyers of their loots. The new penalties may even include revoking their trading licences. But will this be effective if the enforcement personnels are not determined to stop these rampant theft of public properties like drain covers, grilles, lamp post fuse and boxes and high tension cables. If the officers spend their time catching traffic offenders and spending long time interrogating them by the roadsides, instead of checking out the scrap iron merchants for illegal items. If the merchants are smart enough to hide the loots in another place, but they have to ship them out eventually. Then they can be stopped half way to the port or alternatively seek the co-operations of the custom officers to check their items thoroughly before allowing them to be shipped out of Sabah. This will call for some extra work and a lot of determination but it will be well worth it if this will stop rampant thefts of public properties hence ending the misery of the people.