KOTA KINABALU: Customs officers in Sabah have seized three types of drugs worth more than RM2.5mil for the first six months of this year.
Sabah Customs Department assistant director-general Julaiman Soimin said the drugs, weighing over 617kg, were namely syabu, ketamine and ketum.
“We managed to seize 10kg of ketamine, 55.3kg of syabu and 552.49kg of ketum powder until June this year,” he said in a press conference at the Customs office in Tawau on Thursday (July 7).
“The seizures were made due to the department’s constant commitment in thwarting activities on the smuggling of drugs,” he added.
He said that such efforts will be continued through special anti-narcotics operations under the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Task Force which kicked off on June 8.
Julaiman said the exercise was focused on the land and air entry points in the borders of both countries.
In the exercise, he said the Customs Department had so far detected six attempts to smuggle in syabu weighing over 10kg and valued at RM366,878.
“We also seized 7kg of ketamine worth RM385,000 and ketum leaves valued at RM3,150 in the operation,” he added.
Towards this end, Julaiman urged the public to help in the effort to combat the drug menace as well as the smuggling of contraband items such as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and fireworks.
Allowing such activities to go on unreported will cost the country financially and also poses a threat to the people’s safety, he said.
He advised the public to provide information on criminal activities by calling the Customs Department’s toll-free number 1-800-88-8855 or contacting the nearest Customs office.
“We assure that the identities of callers will be kept confidential,” he added.
