Sabah Customs seize cannabis, ketamine worth over RM180,000

Mohd Nasir (seated, middle) speaking to reporters about the drugs seizure at the Menara Kastam Zon Sabah in Kota Kinabalu on Monday (May 22).

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Customs personnel foiled two attempts by smugglers to sneak cannabis and ketamine into the state through couriers last week.

In total, the department seized 886gm of cannabis and 3.01kg of ketamine all worth over RM184,000.

Sabah Customs assistant-director general Mohd Nasir Deraman said they made the first seizure on May 15 when a consignment with suspicious contents arrived at the courier company here.

Following a scan, Customs personnel found the items package contained the cannabis.

He said that the drugs were detected after scanning a consignment that arrived on May 19.

"After the check, we found ketamine weighing some 3.01kg in it,” he told reporters in a press conference at the Menara Kastam Zon Sabah here on Monday (May 22).

Mohd Nasir said that the senders of the packages provided fake information on the consignment notes as a means to deceive the authorities and subsequently sneak in the illicit items into Sabah.

“The fake information given were such as inexistent addresses or (names of) inactive companies.

As of now, there have been no arrest in the two cases but we investigations are on-going,” he said, adding the probe was framed under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

Meanwhile, Mohd Nasir said the Sabah Customs have managed to seize about 32.26kg of drugs worth some RM1.24mil so far this year.

He said the drugs seized were methamphetamine, ketamine and cannabis.

In the same period, he added, they also seized some 480kg of ketum leaves and powder, all worth about RM4,800.