RM3bil worth of drugs seized
Amount confiscated over two decades
KUALA LUMPUR: A whopping RM3bil worth of drugs that would have catered to 1.4 billion addicts were seized over two decades of drug enforcement nationwide.
The drugs – 264 tonnes in powder form, 36 million in pills and one million litres of liquid – were confiscated through various operations conducted by the Narcotic Crime Investigation Department (NCID) from 1996 to 2017.
“We managed to seize the drugs through successful intelligence gathering and enforcement operations,” Bukit Aman NCID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh told a press conference held in conjunction with Police Day tomorrow.
The seized drugs included 9,164kg of syabu, 3,162kg of ketamine, 33,227kg of ganja, 7,412kg of heroin and 212kg of cocaine.
Comm Mohmad said the NCID detained more than two million suspects over an array of drug offences during the same period, with 1.3 million arrested for drug consumption and 177,656 for trafficking.
Touching on current challenges faced by the department, Comm Mohmad said drug syndicates had evolved from dealing with tradi tional drugs such as ganja and synthetic drugs like ecstasy and syabu to new psychoactive substances that mimicked existing drugs.
“The syndicates are getting more sophisticated and trying very hard to cover their tracks, so we must always be a step ahead of them,” he said.
The latest trend by the syndicates is sending drugs via courier in small amounts.
“The syndicates take orders on the dark web and send them to their customers via post. These are tagged ‘postal drugs’.
“They are dealing in smaller amounts to minimise the threat of detection,” he said.
Asked about the involvement of “inside men” or “moles” at enforcement agencies, Comm Mohmad said his department would not compromise even if it involved police personnel.
“We will not tolerate such behaviour by a few bad hats who tarnish our reputation. Their cowardice will not be tolerated and firm action have and will be taken without fear or favour,” he said.