Shahrizan (centre) and his men with the seized syabu.
KOTA KINABALU: The authorities have seized syabu worth more than RM1.7mil after a high-speed boat chase in waters off Sabah’s east coast Tawau district on Monday (July 4).
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) was patrolling a river in the Inderasabah area during Ops Sejahtera when it spotted a suspicious-looking vessel at 11.30pm.
Tawau MMEA chief Maritime Captain Shahrizan Raman said the boat operator suddenly sped off towards the open sea when they approached.
"During the chase, the operator tossed something out of the boat before heading towards a mangrove swamp," he said on Tuesday (July 5).
He added that the suspect then ditched the boat in shallow waters before escaping into the dark.
Following a search later, his men found a backpack containing 32 packets labelled as Chinese tea which contained a substance suspected to be syabu.
"The drugs, weighing over 32kg, have been handed over to the investigating officer at the Tawau MMEA jetty," Shahrizan said.
He said efforts were ongoing to identify the mastermind and syndicate behind the case.
"The MMEA will continue enforcement activities to curb criminal activities particularly in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone)," he said.
He urged the public to contact the Tawau MMEA operations centre at 089-752116 or the Malaysia Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 to report any criminal activity at sea.
