He said although there was a decline in general, police detected a significant number of cases involving burglaries and motorcycle thefts.

“They (criminals) are taking advantage of the situation to commit crimes during the MCO and we were able to detect them through roadblocks.

“When they see the police doing roadblocks they turn around,” he said in a special interview on the “Selamat Pagi Malaysia” programme, aired on Radio Television Malaysia here today.

Meanwhile, Hamid said 46,000 officers and policemen across the country had been assigned to conduct roadblocks or patrols and inspections of public premises, as well as to disseminate information on the implementation of the MCO.

“All of these efforts are very important for the public to reduce movement, and we will check whether these members of the public are among those who are allowed to leave the house or not,” he said.

Meanwhile, when asked about the public’s level of compliance with the implementation of the MCO, Hamid said the compliance rate had improved to date.

“People are beginning to adhere to the MCO, and I urge the people to follow all the advice of the police and military throughout the period,” he said.