Ketum drink operation busted
Jobless man with pending court case arrested in raid
A jobless man with a pending court case for a ketum-related offence has been arrested for allegedly running a ketum drink operation in Pasir Puteh.
Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm A. Asmadi Abdul Aziz said the 49-year-old man, who was charged in court earlier this year, was arrested during a raid at two houses on Wednesday.
“The man has five previous charges, all related to ketum.
“The last time he was arrested was on Feb 25 and he has been brought to court and given bail,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
ACP Asmadi said the man was arrested along with two other men in their 30s with about RM8,700 worth of ketum drinks and leaves seized during the raid.
“The two men were hired to prepare the drinks. They operated twice a week and were paid about RM60 per day.
“We’ve seized 530 bottles, containing a total of about 795 litres of the drink, and four plastic bags containing about 78kg of the unprocessed leaves,” he said, adding that a 1.5-litre bottle of the drink was sold at RM13.
ACP Asmadi said he believed the seizure was the biggest haul of ketum leaves and drinks by the district police this year.
“They have been operating for about three years and mainly sell the drinks here. They will be remanded until Aug 23,” he added.
Separately, ACP Asmadi said the police had also seized 28 plastic bags containing 448g of ketum leaves following a car chase at KM280 southbound of the NorthSouth Expressway, near the Jelapang toll plaza on Aug 17.
He said the items were found in a four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle that had crashed into a divider near the toll plaza after its tyres were shot by the police.
“A man had alighted from the 4WD and escaped in another car, believed to be his accomplice.
“We are now on the manhunt for the suspect,” he said, adding that the seized leaves have a market value of about RM4,500.