Zaini (right) and Mazli showing the confiscated drugs that were smuggled from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna via an express bus.
KOTA KINABALU: A 25-year-old foreign man was arrested at an express bus terminal in Semporna for having in his possession five kilogrammes of syabu (methamphetamine).
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Zaini Jass said the suspect was caught red-handed with the drugs by narcotics police from Semporna around 7.30pm on May 31.
“A narcotics police team from the Semporna Police Headquarters had earlier kept the suspect under surveillance at the terminal after receiving a tip-off.
“Around 7.30pm, an express bus from Kota Kinabalu arrived at the Semporna Bus Terminal.
“A couple of minutes later, a man was seen approaching the express bus counter at the terminal to claim a brown box.
“As he was leaving the terminal, police immediately approached and arrested him,” he told a press conference at the State Police Headquarters in Kepayan yesterday.
Zaini said the box contained five packets of a crystalline substance, believed to be syabu, with each packet weighing about a kilogram.
“The five packets containing the syabu were inside five herbal tea packets with each packet wrapped in black plastic bag.
“The drugs were laid out neatly inside the brown box and covered with 19 boxes of earphones, a tactic used by drug syndicates to prevent smuggled drugs from being detected by the authority,” said Zaini, adding that the drugs weighed 5.184 kg with market value of RM207,378.
Zaini said the drugs, which were smuggled from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna, were enough for use by 1,000 drug addicts for a month.
The suspect from Semporna is being detained for investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
Also present at press conference was Sabah Deputy Police Commissioner, Datuk Mazli Mazlan.