Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that while the overall crime rates in the country have been going down over the past few years, serious crimes have been on the rise since the abolition of the Emergency Ordinance (EO).

NONEZahid was referring to statistics given by the Home Ministry to the DAP’s Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa two days ago that showed crime statistics in the country to have been static over the past year despite his earlier claim that the crime rates have soared.

“Overall, crime has gone down, yes. But serious crimes and organised crime have increased. You have got to differentiate,” he told reporters at a press conference at the Parliament building today.

However, violent crime statistics in the figures given by the ministry show that the average crime rates from January to September this year were the same as for the whole of last year.

Zahid also said the numbers of serious crimes have experienced a noticeable drop since the commencement of the Ops Cantas by the police on Aug 17.

"Since Ops Cantas, serious crimes have dropped by 8.7 per cent," he said.

Zahid also said that 650,000 people were vetted during the operation, with 20,000 people arrested and 900 investigation papers opened against those detained under Ops Cantas.

"Now, we are just waiting for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to sign the Prevention of Crime (PCA)Act amendments for the law to be in foce," Zahid said.