KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Pos Malaysia has been hit with another allegation of dropping off illegal items, this time in the form of ketum leaves.
On Wednesday, Wangsa Maju district police arrested a couple, aged 26 and 44, who had been running a ketum water processing syndicate while couriering the leaves via Pos Laju.
Acting district police chief Asmadi Abdul Aziz said police were conducting an investigation.
“We are looking into the possibility that employees of the company may be involved,” he said.
“We believe the parcels were dropped off at certain spots, such as rest areas along a highway, and picked up by the recipients.”
Asmadi said the leaves were couriered from Pokok Sena in Kedah.
Police raided the suspects’ house in Sri Rampai at 11pm on Wednesday and seized 106 bottles of ketum water and 48kg of ketum leaves worth RM8,970.
“The suspects had been renting the house for six months, selling the ketum water for RM20 a bottle,” he said.
“They have no previous criminal record.”
Asmadi said they were being investigated for importing, manufacturing and selling psychotropic substances.
Ketum leaf-related offences are punishable with a maximum fine of RM5,000 for supply and RM10,000 for processing the leaves as drugs under the Poisons Act.
This is not the first time the national postal service has landed in hot water for transporting illegal items.
In a Malay Mail expose in May, a journalist ordered a flare and smoke bomb online and had them couriered from Johor Baru via PosLaju.
This incident and the subsequent police investigation led the company to conduct its own internal inquiry.
The outcome of the inquiry has not been made public.
