Cigarette butt littering lands man with arrest warrant

KANGAR: A man who discarded a cigarette butt was issued an arrest warrant after repeatedly failing to attend court, before he was ordered to perform community service today.

Perlis Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) director Fadil Idris said the self-employed man had failed to comply with three court summonses without reasonable cause.

He said SWCorp subsequently applied for an arrest warrant with police assistance to ensure the offender was brought to court, where he was sentenced on Aug 20.

"We have issued community service orders to four individuals for discarding cigarette butts in the state.

"However, only one turned up today to serve the first four hours of his community service, involving road and drain-cleaning work around Dataran Sena," he said during the 50th series of the state-level community service programme.

Fadil said another offender had also been issued an arrest warrant but did not turn up for community service today.

"However, the offender submitted an official letter explaining his absence to us.

"If the offender remains defiant and fails to attend and complete the prescribed community service, they may be brought back to court and face a fine of between RM2,000 and RM10,000," he said.

As of Sept 13, a total of 655 Notices of Offence (NPK) had been issued in the state, all involving the offence of discarding cigarette butts.