KOTA KINABALU: Police have hauled up a plantation manager after he defied a state government directive to all plantations in Lahad Datu, Tawau and Kinabatangan to temporarily halt operations to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The 44-year-old plantation manager was ordered to turn up at the Lahad Datu police headquarters to have his statement recorded.

Plantations were initially allowed to operate when the movement control order (MCO) came into effect on March 18, but the state government in March 24 ordered them to close after Covid-19 cases were detected among the workers in a few plantations.

Lahad Datu district police chief Asst Comm Nasri Mansor, who led an operation Thursday (March 26) to check on plantations in the Lahad Datu district, said they found a plantation along Jalan Segama where work was going on.

He said the 25 workers, comprising three locals, five Filipinos and 17 Indonesians aged 20 to 47, and their manager were given a briefing and warned to comply with the MCO.

Plantation or mill managers who refuse to adhere to the directive could be arrested under Section 22(b) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) and Section 186 of the Penal Code, Nasri said.