Deputy Commissioner reveals more than 80 police personnel suspected drug abusers, fears they may be working with pushers
Datuk Dev Kumar
KUCHING: More than 80 police officers in Sarawak are on a target list for drug abuse.
Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Dev Kumar told a press conference yesterday that some of them could also possibly be in cahoots with drug pushers.
“So far, two officers with the rank of lance corporal and another with the rank of corporal tested positive for methamphetamine,” he said, adding the three are currently under remand.
He revealed that one lance corporal was arrested in Kota Samarahan on Tuesday, while the other was nabbed here on Wednesday. The corporal was detained here yesterday after he tested positive for drugs.
Dev Kumar said a pathology lab report is needed to charge both suspects in court, which would be followed by dismissal from the force.
“We can only take action if the lab result showed that they tested positive for drugs as the first drug test was conducted by us (police),” he said.
He stressed the police need to ‘clean-up’ their own house before the war against drugs in Sarawak can be carried out effectively.
“Now less talk, more action needs to be taken,” said Dev Kumar, adding the police launched ‘Ops Blue Devil’ on Tuesday to weed out bad hats in the force, including random drug tests on officers of different ranks.
Dev Kumar had earlier witnessed the handing over of duties from outgoing Sarawak Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) head ACP Sahar Abdul Latif to Supt Hasnir Abdul Hamid.
He said a meeting will be held today at the NCID office to further enhance strategies on how to combat drug-related issues in Sarawak.
“We (police) need to cut the source of the drug problem by focusing on the pusher or the syndicates and not only the drug users,” he added.
He said there is an increasing number of drug-related cases in rural Sarawak.
Dev Kumar added the success of the recent ‘Ops Ice Breaker’, which saw the arrest of more than 500 suspects between July 29 and Aug 4 throughout Sarawak proved utilising personnel from other police departments could assist the NCID with manpower issues.
A Sarawak-wide joint operation last month also saw the arrest of 406 suspected drug pushers and abusers in one day.