KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — The government should review money-laundering laws and use them to go after drug lords, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said today.
The lawyer and lawmaker from DAP commended the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government for moving to decriminalise addiction, but said the problem would persist unless it also cuts off the supply of narcotics at the root.
“Can we look into laws like the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLA) to hit them where it hurts?” he asked in a statement.
“We are moving in the right direction in treating the symptoms. Let us not forget to fix it at the root,” he added.
He pointed out that locked up addicts could still buy drugs behind bars because supply was being smuggled into detention centres and prisons, and urged the authorities to tighten enforcement.
He also suggested that whistleblowers be given incentives and protection.
“Without ‘cooperation’ from the border patrol, customs, immigration, police and other relevant agencies, the drug traffickers and peddlers will find themselves crippled,” he added.
The government spent over half a billion ringgit to jail minor drug offenders just in 2017 alone and over RM200 million more to arrest and house addicts in state-run rehabilitation centres the same year, Malay Mail reported earlier this week.
Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also disclosed yesterday that most of the 70,000 prisoners in the country were addicts, explaining the government’s move to decriminalise drug use and instead focus on rehabilitation programmes.
