Musa told Sin Chew Daily he had directed all state police chiefs to take effective measures to remove this cancer of the society.

"Police have planned a series of raids, arrests and preventive strategies. These strategies have been launched in stages with state police chiefs being put in charge of the implementation," he said.

He stressed that the activities of mat rempit gangs have given rise to a sense of insecurity among the public but the current police blitz will ensure that those who are in contempt of the law are punished.

Police will ensure that peace prevails and that the public feel safe to go out.

"The operations being carried out of late in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are part of police's preventive measures. These operations, including the setting up of roadblocks, are targeted at motorcyclists, especially those who roam the cities after midnight."

Asked to comment on the increasingly menacing mat rempits who are involved in snatch-thefts, robberies, causing hurt and carrying out attacks on other road users and even on police, Musa said mat rempits referred to those involved in illegal racing, but bikers who commit crimes are not necessarily mat rempits.

Nevertheless, he said, mat rempits are opportunists and when they are out in groups, they might commit snatch-thefts given the opportunity.

But the public should not stereotype those who commit crime wearing helmets or on their bikes as mat rempits.

Federal traffic police chief Datuk Abd Aziz Yusof said he has already directed state traffic police chiefs to regard mat rempits as the prime target of their crackdown.

He said roadblocks are set up every day to put a stop to illegal racing. He urged the public to tip police off on illegal racing as well as mat rempits' haunts.

Kuala Lumpur deputy traffic police chief ASP Ng Fook Long disclosed that apart from regular beats, police in plainclothes are also patrolling the streets to curb illegal racing.

He said mat rempits change their gathering places and racing venues so often that police have to go under cover to get information.

Meanwhile, Brickfields district police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said police action against illegal racing is hampered by their difficulty in getting court order to hold mat rempits for more than 24 hours.

He said these illegal racers are hard to trace once they are released and they inevitably end up racing on the streets again.

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