Ramli (third right) receives a memento from Samarahan community leaders. Also seen are Lee (left), Idris (second left), Anwar (right) and Aidil (second right).
KOTA SAMARAHAN: The police have seized drugs worth RM1.5 million in Sarawak in just the first three days of 2020, Sarawak Commissioner of Police Datuk Ramli Din revealed today.
He said that on Jan 1, more than 9 kilogrammes (kg) of syabu and 20,000 Ecstasy pills, valued at more than RM1 million, were seized in Miri and seven people were arrested.
Two days later in Miri, he said another seizure of drugs worth about RM300,000 was made.
“In the span of three days of the new year, we had succeeded in seizing RM1.5 million worth of drugs that could be consumed by 50,000 to 60,000 addicts,” said Ramli during a visit to Kota Samarahan Police District Headquarters where he also met community leaders.
He said gone were the days when drugs were consumed secretly as drug addicts now dared to satisfy their addiction even in entertainment outlets.
“Two nights ago, the police did another operation at entertainment outlets in Kuching and we arrested 167 people and out of this number, 67 were found to be positive for drugs,” he said.
Ramli added that drug addiction not only involved a small number of people but could also include politicians, the army and police personnel.
“That is how serious our drug problem is ever since we declared that drugs are our number one enemy since 1989,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ramli said the crime rate in the state is under control.
“Out of more than 6,000 police reports received in 2019, about 65 percent of the cases have been resolved and for this year, we aim to resolve more cases,” he said.
He said the two trending crimes in Sarawak were commercial crimes and gambling.
However, Ramli said the police are getting to the core of the problem.
“As you can see, gambling activities are in small groups but if you accumulate them, there are many (of them). They disguise their operations by selling water or tidbits when in actual fact, they are selling gambling top ups.
“Our men are checking these outlets daily. There is a need for us to communicate with the council offices. Something has to be done or they will ruin our society,” he said.