JOHOR BARU: A traffic police officer who allegedly extorted a Singaporean couple has been assigned to another unit.

Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat confirmed the case, which was reported in a Singapore-based portal.

“The policeman involved in the incident has been transferred to a unit which has no dealings with the public,” he said in a statement on Friday (Oct 7).

Comm Kamarul Zaman said the case is being investigated by the Johor police contingent’s integrity and compliance department.

“If found guilty, punishment that can be imposed on the suspect includes assigning him for hard duty to termination of services,” added Kamarul.

He said that Johor police does not tolerate any action by its personnel that violate the law and the ethics of civil servants.

It was reported that the husband and wife were stopped by traffic police in Johor Baru and the officer concerned asked them for RM500 before letting them off.

According to the 39-year-old woman, whose surname is Cao, they were in Johor Baru on Thursday (Sept 29), when they were stopped by traffic police at 4pm.

The police officer then claimed that the couple had run through two red lights.

The couple were told to stop the car under an overpass where the policeman allegedly asked her husband to hand over RM500.

Her husband only had RM200 in his wallet, which he gave to the policeman, who then took two S$50 notes from the man’s wallet, put the money in his record book and left.