KUCHING: Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail says there are no known organised crime groups in Sarawak, unlike Peninsular Malaysia.

“So far, we have already controlled this sort of activities and majority of these gangs are concentrated in towns like Sibu and others.

“However, these gangs are not the village type of gangsters, they are more like thugs,” he said here on Friday (March 12).

He added that nowadays, they were not involved in organised crime, did not have specific tattoos, and did not have specific requirements in recruiting members.

He pointed out that these thugs were more towards protecting their business, especially in Sibu. “They won’t do any crime, maybe just fighting.”

In 2013, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi, the then Home Ministry secretary–general, revealed in a press conference that there were 49 secret societies in the country and 16 were in Sarawak.

To date, it is not known how many secret societies there are in Sarawak.