KUCHING (April 12): The Sarawak government is willing to purchase more narcotics sniffer dogs in the effort to strengthen its fight against drug trafficking, said Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Abdul Karim, who is National Association for the Prevention of Drugs (Pemadam) Sarawak chairman, said it was unfortunate that there are not many drug-sniffer dogs serving in the police and Customs Department.
“If I am not mistaken, there are only two canines trained to sniff out drugs for the whole state of Sarawak, which has many entry points such as the airports, ports, and postal or courier offices.
“That is why we need more drug-sniffer dogs for this purpose because only these canines can sniff out drugs,” he told a press conference after chairing the Sarawak-level Anti-Drug Action Council.
Abdul Karim said drugs could be easily smuggled in the form of parcels through postal and courier offices in Sarawak.
“In a day, thousands of parcels arrive in the state but the post office cannot open each and every one of these parcels simply because they want to check whether they contain drugs or not.
“The National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) and the police depend on information channelled to them and if there is none, they will not open the parcels either.
“That is why we have to solve this issue and I hope that the federal government through the Ministry of Home Affairs can look into this matter seriously,” he said.
Abdul Karim pointed out the state Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department had arrested 2,058 individuals and seized various drugs between January and March this year with a confiscation value of RM4.8 million.
Drugs seized included syabu weighing over 44.6kg worth over RM3.324 million; ketamine (2.38kg) worth RM357,468; ecstasy (16,203 pills) worth over RM1.09 million; cannabis (over 8kg) worth RM400,153; Eramin 5 (1,054 pills) worth RM15,810; and Nospan (437 pills) worth RM437.
He said AADK statistics found there were 1,915 persons under surveillance, while the Prisons Department had 777 inmates jailed for various drug offenses as of March 1.