GEORGE TOWN: The beach boy detained after the horse he was on allegedly knocked a 5-yearold girl unconscious on the Batu Ferringhi beach on Tuesday was high on drugs.
State police chief Datuk Ayub Yakub said yesterday a urine test administered on the 28-year-old revealed he had been using morphine.

Initial investigations also revealed the man, who is from Alor Star, had two previous convictions for burglary and drugs. He is being investigated for causing grievous hurt.

Ayub was speaking after visiting the girl, Arina Kirana Azrin, at the Penang Hospital paediatric ward.

Arina, who was on holiday in Penang with her parents and 12-year-old sister, was building sand castles with her sister when a horse ridden by the beach boy collided with her.

The rider did not stop after the collision, which left the kindergarten girl with bodily injuries. She is still warded at the hospital.

Meanwhile, a massive operation to seize horses kept by illegal operators of joy rides at the Batu Ferringhi beach has been drawn up by the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) following Tuesday's incident.

State Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the operators of the illegal horse-riding business in the tourism belt had been given written notices to remove the animals from Kampung Chettiar, a village located near Parkroyal Hotel.

The notices were first issued last month following an incident on April 30 when a tourist from Saudi Arabia fell off a horse and sustained minor injuries on Batu Ferringhi beach.

"The operators had been openly defying the ban on horse-riding along the beachfront, even after they had received orders in black and white to remove the horses from the village.

"The next step will be for the MPPP to seize the animals from the village as soon as possible," he said yest e r d ay.

On quad bike riding that has also been banned, Chow said the operators were cooperative and that the authorities had not received complaints lately.

He said the council needed to engage operators of water sports, such as jet-skiing and parasailing again, following recent complaints that such activities were not carried out in demarcated zones. He said the state and local authorities had always maintained that the beach belonged to everyone, but if the situationworsened to a point that harsher measures needed to be taken, the operators would risk having their licences suspended. "These people had just been given licences to operate, as we wanted to regulate their activities. However, if they continue to violate regulations, then they will only tarnish their own reputation further and risk action being taken against them."

Edited by Carmeline A.