The Johor police have vowed to conduct a thorough investigation following complaints that its officers had extorted money from travellers in two Singapore-registered vehicles.

Posting on the Facebook page MY SG Road Trip – Your Malaysia Road Trip Guide on March 11, a woman called Ms Irene Teo said she and her boyfriend were travelling back to Singapore via the Causeway a day earlier when their car was ushered into a lorry lane by Johor Bahru officers.

Ms Teo told The Straits Times they spent about three hours in Johor Bahru.

The Singaporean, who is in her late 40s, alleged that police officers then stopped their car at a “deserted side road” beside the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar CIQ complex and asked for her boyfriend’s driving licence and then his passport.

The officer said he would help them return to the car lane and asked for RM600 (S$171) in return, Ms Teo said.

If she failed to do so, Ms Teo was told by the officer that she would have to lodge a report at their office and have her and her boyfriend’s information recorded in the system.

Ms Teo said she wanted to go to the office to pay the fine but was ignored by the officer, who was still holding on to her boyfriend’s passport.

The officer later took Ms Teo and her boyfriend back to the car lane after she gave him RM500.

In another post on the same Facebook page by a user called Sage on March 12, she uploaded two dashcam recordings of the alleged incident.

One shows a traffic police officer directing motorists to the immigration lane meant for heavy vehicles.

The other clip shows Sage and her companions waiting at the clearance counter while an officer in a white uniform talks to the people inside a car in front. Another officer is seen standing next to the car. 

Both cars are later escorted out by police officers riding motorcycles. The clips have no audio, and there are no recordings of the extortion taking place.

In her post, Sage wrote that she paid RM100 to get her own boyfriend’s licence back.

Johor Police Chief Commissioner M. Kumar told Malaysia’s New Straits Times that the police are aware of the footage that was uploaded and shared on social media platforms.

“Attempts have been made to contact (Ms) Teo, but she (has) yet to respond. We have also recorded statements from the policemen manning traffic during the alleged incident,” he said.

“If the allegations are true, it will be investigated thoroughly without compromise. We do not tolerate any form of misuse of power and acts of alleged bribery.”

ST has contacted Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi for more information.