Nearly 1,500 summonses have been issued to drivers of Singapore-registered vehicles since the

said Johor’s Road Transport Department (JPJ) on Aug 3.

Most of these drivers said they did not know enforcement had started, said JPJ senior enforcement director Kifli Ma Hassan on Aug 3.

The summonses came up to over RM445,000 (S$135,600), amounting to 1,489 drivers being fined around RM300 each.

“We are taking firm action with zero tolerance. No more warnings – summonses are issued immediately, and offenders are required to settle them on the spot,” Mr Kifli said.

“In all the summonses issued, there was only one (driver) who did not cooperate. But when we wanted to seize the vehicle, he finally complied with paying the fine and registering for the VEP,” he said, as cited by Bernama.

Mr Kifli was speaking to the media near the exit of the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar checkpoint, which connects the Causeway with Woodlands Checkpoint, after conducting an inspection operation on Singapore-registered vehicles entering Johor Bahru.

He also showed reporters the mobile devices his officers use to check the validity status of VEP tags.

At least 14,379 vehicles have been inspected near Johor’s two land checkpoints, and other spots within the state over 33 days as at Aug 2, Mr Kifli said, meaning nearly 90 per cent of cars checked were found to have installed and activated their VEP tags.

JPJ will continue to conduct inspections at places frequented by Singaporean drivers, he said, without giving examples. He urged vehicle owners to register and activate their VEP tags to avoid inconvenience when entering or exiting Malaysia.

A total of 277,930 tags have been issued to Singaporean drivers as at July 31, Mr Kifli added.