Two men nabbed, drugs worth RM639,250 seized in major narcotics bust
MIRI: Police believed that they had taken down a drug trafficking syndicate here, with the arrest of two men and seizure of substance, believed to be drugs worth RM639,250, last week.
In a statement yesterday, Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata said based on background checks, the two suspects had a total of 16 past criminal records under Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 and also the Penal Code.
The first arrest was made on a 26-year-old man, in front of an entertainment outlet here by a team from Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) from Sarawak police headquarters, at 10pm on April 11.
A check conducted on him led to the discovery of 31.73gm of substance, suspected to be ‘syabu’. The suspect later led the team to a condominium unit, where they arrested another man, age 33, and seized 16,187gm of substance, also suspected to be ‘syabu’, 198gm of what appeared to be ketamine, and 3,750 Erimin 5 pills.
Mancha said the first suspect had four criminal records under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, while the second suspect had six past records under the same Act and another six records under the Penal Code.
Both suspects tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine, he added.
“During the arrests, the police also confiscated a luxury watch worth RM5,000 and a car estimated to be worth RM10,000,” he said.
The items seized as exhibits included a copy of an account statement, five boxes of Firmapress filled with 80kg of suspected juice-mixing powder together with vacuum packaging, grinder, digital weighing scale, empty plastic bags and other items.
Further investigation indicated that the modus operandi of this syndicate was to source the drugs from Peninsular Malaysia for distribution around Miri, with the dealers being paid between RM2,000 and RM5,000 a month.
Both suspects are now placed on remand until April 18 to facilitate the investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
“The police will continue to track the remaining members of the syndicate and we hope that the public will continue to channel any information related to drug activities to the NCID via the hotline 012-208 7222,” said Mancha.