JOHOR BARU, Sept 20 — The Johor police arrested 9,506 individuals for various drug-related offences from January to September this year.
Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said of the total number of arrests 5,016 were for drug possession.
“Some 16 syndicates have also been crippled and 70 per cent of those caught have been charged in court.
“Some 10.9 tonnes of various drugs valued at RM352 million have also been seized from the suspects within the same period,” said Ayob Khan during a press conference this morning at the Johor police contingent headquarters here today.
He said for last year, police arrested a total of 18,837 individuals with 8,390 of them for drug possession and 8,916 individuals for drug trafficking.
He said this also included 15 syndicate members, making it the largest drug-related arrests made by a police contingent in the country.
“In 2020, the Johor police, through the state narcotics department, successfully disposed of 877.4 kilogrammes and 251.63 litres of various drugs worth RM14.6 million, involving 3,844 cases that have been solved with 51 per cent of those arrested being charged in court,” he said.
Ayob Khan said police were committed to carrying out operations to stop drug smuggling activities and nabbing trafficking syndicates throughout the country, in particular within Johor.
“We have recorded many successes with the arrests of drug syndicate members, together with drug seizures and confiscating of equipment used in processing the illegal substances,” he said.
On the seized drugs, Ayob Khan pointed out that the state police will be disposing of 1.7 tonnes and 3,717 litres of drugs that are estimated to be worth RM28.9 million.
He said the drugs that will be disposed of include 191.3kg of heroin, marijuana (84.73kg), ketamine (24.5kg), methamphetamine (92.3kg) and methylenedioxy methamphetamine (48.3kg).
The seized drugs were involved in narcotics cases that have been solved between 2000 and 2020.
“The drugs will later be sent to the Kualiti Alam centre at Bukit Pelandok in Negri Sembilan to be disposed of,” said Ayob Khan.
