Criminal Procedure Code · Updated to 1 May 2023 · Chapter IV · Arrest, Escape and Retaking
23. When police or penghulu may arrest without warrant
Feedback & supportAny police officer or penghulu may without an order from a
Magistrate and without a warrant arrest―
any person who has been concerned in any offence committed anywhere in Malaysia which is a seizable offence under any law in force in that part of Malaysia in which it was committed or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned;
any person having in his possession without lawful excuse, the burden of proving which excuse shall lie on such person, any implement of housebreaking;
any person who has been proclaimed under section 44;
any person in whose possession anything is found which may reasonably be suspected to be stolen or fraudulently obtained property and who may reasonably be suspected of having committed an offence with reference to that thing;
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any person who obstructs a police officer while in the execution of his duty or who has escaped or attempts to escape from lawful custody;
any person reasonably suspected of being a deserter from the Armed Forces of Malaysia;
any person found taking precautions to conceal his presence under circumstances which afford reason to believe that he is taking those precautions with a view to committing a seizable offence;
any person who has no ostensible means of subsistence or who cannot give a satisfactory account of himself;
any person who is by repute a habitual robber, housebreaker or thief or a habitual receiver of stolen property knowing it to be stolen or who by repute habitually commits extortion or in order to commit extortion habitually puts or attempts to put persons in fear of injury;
any person in the act of committing in his presence a breach of the peace; or
any person subject to the supervision of the police who fails to comply with the requirements of section 296.
Nothing in this section shall be held to limit or to modify the operation of any other law empowering a police officer or penghulu to arrest without a warrant.
If any person is arrested without warrant in any component territory of Malaysia (which expression shall in this subsection have the same meaning as in the Warrants and Summonses (Special Provisions)
Act 1965 [Act 6 of 1965]) for an offence alleged to have been committed in any other component territory of Malaysia, the provisions of the
offence
“offence” means any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force;
Warrants and Summonses (Special Provisions) Act 1965, shall, so far as they may be appropriate and with any necessary modifications, apply for the purposes of the custody, transfer, release on bail and appearance before the appropriate Court in the other component territory of
Court
“Court” means the High Court, a Sessions Court, or a Magistrate’s Court of any class, as the context may require;
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Malaysia of that person as if he had been arrested under a warrant issued by a Magistrate in the last mentioned component territory.