However, no plea was recorded from them after the charge, read out in Malay and Tamil, was read out before judge Murtazadi Amran.
All of them, who are between the ages of 20 and 60, were charged with becoming members of the criminal group between Jan 1, 2015 and Jan 27 this year in the district of Kinta here.
The charge, under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code, provides an imprisonment of up to 20 years if found guilty.
Sixteen of them, namely Mohamed Shariff Mohamed Ibrahim, Muhamed Sidik Mohamed Ibrahim, M Perbakaran, R Sargunan, B Murli, M Ganesan, N Michael Raj, M Selva, S Jesudass, K Kartikkesan, SD Kevan, P Jeventhyren, LTamil Selven, SKalidas, K Arun and Abdul Rahman Subbaiah Salim, were represented by their lawyers.
The others — A Kughan, J Thruselvam, K Thiruchelvan, K Kugan, A Samuel Dhinakaran, K Sattiyarao, S Vijendran, BK Chandran, S Thatchana Moorthy, M Munian, R Kesavan, PA Fatri, F Niclos, SK Jagathesan, R Paramesh Rao, A Govalsamy, TS Kavitheian, C Tinabalan, K Selvam and T Kamal — were not represented.
Deputy public prosecutors Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Mohd Izhanudin Alias prosecuted.
The court set March 20 for mention.
Yesterday, Perak police chief Hasnan Hassan had said that the 36 arrests were made in a nationwide operation, dubbed “Ops Cantas Silver”, which began on Jan 27.
He said the arrested suspects included one with the honorific title of “Datuk”.
He said police were in the midst of tracking down 10 suspected members of the group who had fled.
“Interpol assistance will be sought if the suspects have gone into hiding abroad,” he said.
Hasnan said the operation was mounted following a series of violent incidents.
This included the murder of a woman with the honorific title of “Datin Seri”, which occurred in front of a restaurant off Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur, on July 6, 2016 and the killing of a man in Hutan Melintang, Bagan Datuk, Perak, in November 2016.
“The long-running secret society had been involved in organised crime and other criminal activities involving robbery, extortion, arson and drug trafficking,” he had said.
He said Bukit Aman’s Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) crime investigation team also froze and seized assets allegedly belonging to the group worth RM4.5 million, which covered vehicles, properties, jewellery, valuable items, bank accounts and cash.