62 secret society members detained in Selangor, Penang, Kedah: IGP (Updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: Special police teams swept across the city and three states in simultaneous raids on Tuesday, netting 62 members of notorious underworld gangs who allegedly recruited secondary school students.
The suspects were detained at various locations here and in Selangor, Kedah and Penang in the midnight operation.
The raids, called Ops Cantas Khas, were led by the federal police elite Special Task Force on Organised Crime (Stafoc) unit with the assistance of CID personnel from the respective states.
The suspects, aged between 20 and 40, were nabbed at their homes and other locations after weeks of surveillance and intelligence-gathering.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who congratulated the raiding teams on the detention of the suspects in a Twitter message, said follow-up operations are ongoing.
It is learnt that the detained gang members, who are from underworld groups such as Gang 36, Gang 24, Gang 18 and Gang 04 – which have been banned by the Home Ministry – were behind the recruitment of students at several secondary schools, especially in Klang and Sungai Petani.
Stafoc commander Commissioner Datuk Huzir Mohamed said the 62 suspects are on the police wanted list for a string of offences such as rioting, assault and also serious crimes such as drug trafficking and murder.
He told theSun that small amounts of drugs were also seized from the suspects who are being held under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
Huzir said although most of those police had sought were arrested in Tuesday's raids, the operation will continue as the hunt for a small number of them who are still at large is ongoing.
In April, a viral video of a group of students in uniform opposite a school in Klang showed them carrying banners and cutting a cake with a Gang 24 logo.
The students, who wreaked havoc in the area by revving their motorcycle engines, were apparently celebrating the gang's anniversary.
State police, with the assistance of Stafoc, launched an operation soon after and detained 52 youths – 43 of them students.
The suspects, aged between 14 and 18, were charged on May 8 with illegal assembly under Section 143 of the Penal Code in the vicinity of four schools, namely SMK Seri Andalas, SMK Raja Mahadi, SK Simpang Lima and SMK Kampung Jawa.