JOHOR BARU, June 29 — A police officer was arrested for his alleged involvement with an international drug smuggling syndicate that was active in Muar, Johor police said today.
The 40-year-old suspect, with the rank of lance corporal, was arrested by a team from the Muar district police Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) last Thursday.
Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the suspect who served at the Muar district police headquarters was detained following the arrest of three other suspects on June 6.
He said the Muar police NCID along with the Region Two Marine Police Force launched a special operation involving several raids around the district.
“The raids started on June 1 when the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency seized 25kg of syabu and 14kg of ecstasy at Muara Parit Samsu beach in Muar where two male suspects managed to flee.
“Following that, police launched a special operation on June 6 where they managed to locate the two suspects, including a third male suspect, who are all locals,” said Ayob Khan.
He said this during a press conference held at the Johor police contingent headquarters today.
Ayob Khan added that the interrogation of the three suspects had later led to the policeman’s arrest on Thursday.
“The policeman is believed to be in collusion with the international drug smuggling syndicate.
“The four suspects, aged between 23 and 40, are in police custody, where two were also found to be positive for drugs during a urine test and had four previous drug-related offenses,” he said.
Ayob Khan said initial investigations revealed that a total of 33kg of syabu were believed to have been tranaported from the northern states to Muar to be smuggled to Indonesia via sea route.
“Of the total, 25 kg of syabu had been seized by Region Two Marine Police Force on June 1 and police are still looking for another 6kg of syabu with another two members of the syndicate,” he said, adding that police seized 2.1kg of syabu worth RM84,000 and a car worth RM10,000 in the June 6 raid.
The policeman was arrested under Section 3 (1) of the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.
Three other suspects are currently under remand for 11 days and the case is investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 and Section 15 (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
