KUCHING: The Sarawak Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department is going to be more aggressive in taking action against drug dealers.
Head of department Supt Sahari Abd Latif said for this year, a number of new approaches had been made in context of combating drugs in Sarawak.
“We are going to be more aggressive in taking actions against drug dealers. We have organised our strategies, we have updated our machinery and in this context, I would like to express appreciation to the state government in giving its full support against combating drug activities in Sarawak,” he said.
At a press conference held at the media centre of the Sarawak Police Contingent Headquarters at Jalan Badruddin here yesterday, Sahari disclosed that 11 people were arrested in drug-related cases in three separate operations carried out by the Sarawak Narcotic Criminal Department.
In the first case, on Jan 15, 2019 at 6.10am, a team raided a house at Kampung Semara Hilir Sadong Jaya and arrested two men aged 23 and 24 respectively for offences under Section 39A(1) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 and Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952.
Syabu weighed 5.71g, valued at RM550, were seized.
One of the men had previous criminal records for criminal intimidation and house-breaking. Both have been remanded for four days until Jan 20.
In the second case, on Jan 15, 2019 at about 12.30pm, a raid was conducted and two men aged 39 and 58 years old respectively were arrested in a house parking lot at Jalan Stakan Batu 7, Kuching.
A plastic bag containing a plastic packaging with the word “GUANYINWANG” written on it was seized.
Inside it were chunks of crystals, believed to be syabu, which weighed approximately 1kg (1,003g) with a total value of RM150,450.
Both suspects, who were painters, were arrested and investigated under Section 38B Dangerous Drug Act 1952 and Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 and both tested positive. One of the suspects had five previous records. They have been remanded for seven days until Jan 23.
He said further investigation was still being carried out as they had their own networks.
Sahar also said on Jan 15, 2019 at about 1.45pm, acting on information and intelligence that were carried out, a raid was conducted at an unnumbered house at Kampung Sadong Jaya Laut, Sadong Jaya and saw the arrest of six men and one woman.
During the raid, seven transparent packets and 26 straws were seized which was believed to contain syabu weighing at 7.72g at a value of RM850.
All the suspects were arrested and investigated under Section 39A (1) Dangerous Drug Act 1952. Two of the suspects were also tested positive for drug. They had been remanded for four days until Jan 20.
On the department’s performance, Sahar disclosed that in 2018, for supplies category, a total of 537 arrests were made compared to the key performance index (KPI) given, which is 370 arrests, and saw an increase of 45 percent.
For the second category of possession (or users category), he said, 1,628 arrests were made compared to the KPI given which was 1,658.
“So we are around 98.1 percent in our achievement, because we focused more on the distributors.
“If we want to arrest more dealers, our efforts, assets and logistics must be used to the maximum to combat dealers in Sarawak,” he said.
For the findings from urine tests conducted, he said there were 4,669 arrests and the KPI was at 4,303, which indicated an achievement rate of 115 percent.
He disclosed that a total of 6,834 people were arrested in 2018 compared to the KPI given at 6,061.
“This means that overall, we have exceeded our KPI by 112.8 percent. But we are still not satisfied and we want to intensify and increase our efforts and focus by going after the dealers,” he said.
Sahar said last year, more than RM1.5 million worth of dealers’ properties were discharged compared with the KPI of RM2.4 million.
“This is the properties of drug dealers that we took action against in 2018 and we saw an increase of 106.53 percent.
He disclosed that the value of drugs seized for the whole of 2018 was RM7.6 million and syabu was still the most used drugs, although there was a slight increase in the use of ganja.
According to Sahar, Sarawak has the highest number of students who tested positive for drugs in 2018 with a total of 301 students.
He said starting this year, PDRM initiated close cooperation with the Ministry of Education in tackling the drug issue and had come up with an effective standard operating procedure (SOP).
“In 2019 with this SOP that we have formed, we will start to strike dealers who are responsible in distributing drugs to students.
“We will support the students that have problems in the spiritual context. We know that they are the victims and we will assist them and we will go after the culprits who dare to distribute drugs to students.
“To date, we have arrested four dealers and one more in the process,” he said.
