Nigerian drug link

> 122 students among 379 held since 2015; 142 for trafficking

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 379 Nigerians were arrested from 2015 to June this year for drug-related offences, said federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Seri Mokhtar Mohd Shariff.

“Out of this total, 122 were students at local institutions of higher learning,” Mokhtar told a press conference at Bukit Aman police headquarters yesterday.

A total of 142 suspects have been charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death sentence.

Mokhtar advised all colleges and universities to alert the police if there are any indications of their students’ involvement in drugs.

“Ensure the students come and study, and not to peddle drugs,” he said.

Mokhtar was commenting on an incident on June 16, where police seized 1kg of syabu packed in cake boxes during an operation at four locations in the city conducted by the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department and Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group.

Nine foreigners, aged between 25 and 39, were arrested – eight Nigerians and one Ugandan.

“Five of the suspects were students, three studying multimedia and two majoring in language courses.

“Four other suspects had no documents on them when police made the arrests in Taman Danau, Setapak and Jalan Pahang.”

He said statistics showed Nigerian students were the most prevalent among foreign students involved in drugs.

The seized drugs, said to be imported from China, were worth about RM100,000 .

The suspects have been remanded for seven days until Friday.

On another matter, Mokhtar said police will cooperate with Thai police on “Mr T” or the “Malaysian Iceman”, who acted as a key middleman for international drug syndicates and is currently under remand in a Bangkok prison.