Gombak district police chief Zainal Mohamed Mohamed said 71 people had been charged this year with lodging false reports over the loss of their identity card.

They had done this to avoid getting fined by the national registration department, he said.

Zainal said the false reports were lodged by individuals aged between 20 and 40.

“Investigations showed that these complainants used false excuses like having fallen prey to robbers and snatch thieves,” he said.

He spoke to reporters after attending a ceremony to dispose of case materials at the Gombak district police headquarters, officiated by Selangor criminal investigation department chief Baharudin Mat Taib.

Baharudin said police had smashed a car theft syndicate with the arrest of 10 people, aged between 35 and 62, in Ops Lejang from June 17 till last Wednesday.

“The suspects were arrested at several locations in Perak, Pahang, Kedah and Johor.

“With these arrests, we have solved 23 cases – eight in Johor, seven in Selangor, four in Perak, three in Kedah and one in Pahang,” he said.

He said the syndicate had been operating for the past two months, targeting luxury vehicles at apartment buildings.