Dirty cops placed loyalists in dept
A number of the 16 policemen arrested for colluding with drug syndicates had planted 'their men' in strategic positions in the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department. Officers not on the same page were transferred out.
KUALA LUMPUR: Police believed they have crippled a cocaine syndicate with the arrest of a local man last Friday.
Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) deputy commander Senior Assistant Commissioner Arjunaidi Mohamed said police seized 3.8kg of the drugs worth more than RM1 million from the 22-year-old labourer at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), the first cocaine seizure this year.
He said the man, who arrived from Africa, wanted to smuggle the drugs to a neighbouring country, but failed when the police arrested him upon his arrival at the airport.
“The police found the drugs wrapped in chocolate wrappers inside chocolate tins. It was a tactic to deceive the authorities.
“The drugs are not for sale in Malaysia, but to be smuggled to a neighbouring country.
“Malaysia is the transit point for the drug trafficking syndicate.
“We believe the man is one of the drug mules for this international drug syndicate.
“It (cocaine) can be used for an estimated 19,000 addicts,” said Arjunaidi at the Federal Police Headquarters here yesterday.
The man, he said, was remanded for seven days and the case was being investigated under Section 39 (b) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, with the punishment of death penalty upon conviction.
He said police had confiscated 9.3kg cocaine in 2015 and 6.7kg last year.
However, demand for the drug was not popular in the country, he said.
Arjunaidi said the police would work with drug enforcement agencies worldwide to wipe out the drug syndicates in the country.