KUCHING: The public are urged to report drug abuse activities among family members or friends to the police so that action may be taken to prevent them from getting involved in crime to fund their addiction.
District police chief ACP Roslan Bek Ahmad said that based on recent arrests made over the past week, police discovered that all of the suspects involved were tested positive for drug abuse.
“We arrested a total of 14 suspects involved in four separate crimes between Jan 10 and 15. All of them tested positive for
Syabu, indicating the majority of crimes taking place in the district are committed by addicts as a way to fund their habit,” he said during a press conference yesterday.
“I appeal to members of the community, if they know or suspect someone of being involved in taking drugs, to report the matter to us so that we can take immediate action,” he added.
He also revealed that the overall crime index for the first 16 days of the year has declined by roughly 36 per cent compared to the same period last year.
According to him, the district police have yet to receive a single report of snatch theft so far this year, and have also recorded decreases in daytime house breaking (66 per cent), vehicle theft (28 per cent) and motorcycle theft (30 per cent).
“Even though it has only been 16 days into the year, the decline is a good sign for everyone. However, I urge the public to continue giving their support by channelling any crime-related information to us.”
On the arrest of the 14 suspects, Roslan revealed that they were locals involved in break-ins and street robbery, each of whom possessed prior arrest records for similar offences.
Following the arrests, police were able to recover an estimated RM150,000 worth of stolen property, ranging from vehicles to electronic and electrical goods, and had remanded each suspect for between four to six days to facilitate further investigation.
Present with Roslan at press conference were district CID chief DSP Lim Bak Phai and district D7 officer-in-charge ASP Abdul Rahim Abdullah.