KUCHING: A total of 11.30kg of narcotics and illegal substances in compressed form and 841 in pill form worth RM714,955 were confiscated from June to August this year in Sarawak.
Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the seizures were carried out through 2,009 enforcement operations by the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID), Royal Malaysian Customs Department and National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK).
“The value of this seizure is down 74.57 per cent from the same period in the previous year of RM 2,811,603.14.
“At the same time, the number of seizures decreased by 73.97 per cent (43.45kg) for compressed drugs and 96.53 per cent (24,297 pills) for pills compared to the same period last year.”
Fatimah spoke to the media on Thursday (Sept 22) following the monthly report on Addressing Drug and Substance Issues (MIDS) meeting and the visit of the federal police’s NCID director Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.
According to the breakdown, 6.18kg of the seizures were made up of drugs and illegal substances such as methamphetamine, ecstasy powder (2.15kg), ketamine (1.59kg), marijuana (1.29kg), and ketum (0.75kg). In terms of pills, Nimetazepam erimin 5 pills (575) and 266 are ecstasy pills.
She said the operation resulted in a total of 3,067 arrests, with 207 persons involved in distribution, 672 in possession of drugs, and 2,188 individuals testing positive.
“The figure is a 70.57 per cent increase over arrests in the same period in 2021(1,798 arrests).
“Meanwhile, a total of 2,136 Persons Under Supervision (OKP) were monitored in Sarawak as of late August and of that total, AADK monitored 1,956 OKPs and PDRM monitored another 180 OKPs,” she explained.
Meanwhile, as of August, 216 people are receiving treatment and rehabilitation at the Narcotics Addiction Rehabilitation Centre (PUSPEN) under court orders managed by Sarawak AADK.
“Through arrests and seizures, we were able to limit the supply and demand for illegal drugs in Sarawak, which are the two key measures in the Sarawak OSC MIDS Action Plan chain.
“In fact, the surge in drug seizures demonstrates that the Sarawak government is quite serious about dealing with the issue of drug abuse after declaring it a security concern in July 2020.”
