Thousands of Malaysians rushed today to pay outstanding traffic fines after police launched a nationwide operation to hunt down errant motorists at their homes.

In a nationwide operation that began Monday, police arrested a total of 111 people who ignored their traffic fines, federal traffic police chief Gingkoi Seman Pancras was quoted as saying by The Star .

Local newspapers on Tuesday had carried pictures of startled traffic offenders who were taken aback when police knocked on their doors.

In the capital, frantic motorists paid up at least RM120,000 by noon on Tuesday compared to RM80,000 on normal days, according to city traffic police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah.

Took day off to pay fine

A 27-year-old salesman identified only as Lim, said he was stunned when a friend told him he had been arrested for a traffic offence.

"I feared I might be next," he was quoted as saying. "I took a day off from work and immediately came to settle my summons."

In southern Johor, state Internal Security and Public Order chief Ma'rof Jantan said about 1,340 arrest warrants would be served during the operation.

Warrants that had been issued to Singaporeans would also be enforced when their vehicles were detected entering the country, he said.

Police in northern Penang state will try to recover RM60 million from some 200,000 unpaid summonses that had been issued since 1994.

Before the operation was launched, police said a total of 1,273,402 summonses, worth some RM300 million in fines, remained unpaid nationwide.