Abang Zainal Abidin (second left) and his officers show the firearms seized from the father.
LIMBANG: A teenage motorist, who dragged a policeman some 200m while fleeing a roadblock, was arrested near the Sarawak-Brunei border in Tedungan late Monday.
District police chief Supt Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad said the 15-year-old boy was nabbed at Kampung Bebuloh around 11am following an extensive manhunt, which also saw the boy’s father arrested for narcotics and firearms offences.
Abang Zainal Abidin told a press conference here yesterday that the incident occurred around midnight when the teen was stopped by personnel from the Narcotics Crime Investigation Division at Jalan Kampung Ranggu.
“The police personnel were manning a roadblock to check for drug offences under Ops Tapis when they spotted a vehicle being driven in a suspicious manner and ordered for it to stop.
“A 28-year-old policeman then approached the vehicle but the driver sped off and dragged the policeman over 200m until he fell to the side of the road,” said the OCPD, adding that the cop suffered injuries to his head, lips, arms, hands and hips.
He said an immediate manhunt was mounted and police raided the suspect’s house at Kampung Menuang about an hour later, where they found one homemade shotgun, two air rifles and eight shotgun cartridges.
“The weapons and ammunition belonged to the suspect’s 44-year-old father, who was arrested on the spot. In addition, a search of the father’s pouch bag uncovered substance believed to be methamphetamine weighing 0.27g.”
Acting on information, Abang Zainal Abidin said police proceeded to Kampung Bebuloh where they found the boy along with the Brunei-registered vehicle involved in the incident.
He told reporters that a background check on the teenager revealed that he had previous involvement in drug-related cases.
Police have classified the case against the teen under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder, as well as Section 332 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty.
Section 307 carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years together with a fine, upon conviction, while Section 332 carries a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment or fine, or both, upon conviction.
For the boy’s father, Abang Zainal Abidin said the man is being investigated under Section 8(a) of the Arms Act 1960 for unlawful possession of firearms.
“He is also being probed under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, punishable under Section 39A(2) of the same Act where if convicted, he could face a jail sentence of not less than five years and not less than 10 strokes of the cane,” he said.