KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The Road Transport Department seized 24 public transport buses on Thursday for committing 42 offences, including operating outside the route stated in their permits.

The buses were seized in the Jalan Genting Klang, Setapak, Pandan Indah and Ampang Jaya areas in a 14-hour operation which began at 4am.

Of the buses seized, 22 were found operating outside permitted routes, six did not have a conductor, five did not display a photocopy of their permit and two were operating without a permit.

Checks revealed that most of the buses were supposed to operate in Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Cheras Perdana, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and other destinations in the city.

The department's Federal Territory director Mohd Nadzri Osman said the buses belonged to four companies.

"One bus conductor was found to be a foreigner. We believe she is an illegal as she did not have any proper travel documents."

The woman, however, escaped while officers were busy inspecting the buses and documents of the drivers and conductors."

Nadzri said the operation was was carried out after the public had complained about the difficulty of getting buses in their area.

He said that many bus companies had also complained about rivals operating in their areas.

"Before the operation, we had conducted surveillance for several weeks."