KOTA KINABALU, Aug 21 — Two men were nabbed by police for drug dealing some 1kg of syabu with a street value of RM180,000 at a rented apartment unit in the city as drug-related arrests continue to climb in the state.
The first suspect, a 24-year-old local Chinese was caught red-handed in the parking lot of Grace Court apartment with two packets of syabu in his back pocket.
“The suspect then led us to an apartment unit in the same Block B, where we found more syabu amounting to 1.01kg packaged separately in small plastic bags along with packaging tools and other paraphernalia,” said Sabah Narcotics Department head Superintendent Abdul Rahim Dolmat.
“According to our surveillance, we believe he has been operating from the apartment for the last six months,” he said.
Police later arrested another suspect, believed to be the first suspect’s boss, whom they believe was trying to escape arrest by boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur from Sandakan.
“Our Sepang counterparts arrested the second suspect, in his 40s at the arrival hall in KLIA,” said Abdul Rahim at a press conference today.
“We believe the drugs were brought in from West Malaysia and we are trying to determine how they brought them into Sabah. We are also looking into the possibility that they may be part of an international syndicate” he said.
Abdul Rahim said that the police have had an increase in drug-related arrests this year compared to the same period last year.
He said 398 people have been arrested for drug trafficking this year, while 1,581 people were arrested for drug possession and 7,303 were tested positive for drug use.
“We have also seized 6.7kg of syabu, 1.2kg of ganja, 266.78g of ketamine, 299 erimin 5 pills, 266 ecstasy pills, and 39 ganja joints. We also detained 11 people under the Special Preventive Measures section of the Dangerous Drugs Act,” he said.
