IPOH: Cemeteries, abandoned buildings, oil palm plantations, and overgrown grassy areas see the most arrests of drug addicts.
Acting Perak police chief Deputy Comm Zulkafli Sariaat said the police had to contend with the addicts’ lookouts at cemeteries that alert them to enforcement teams’ approach.
“They take turns to take their fix,” he said, adding that the raid at the cemetery was conducted in the morning. “During ops, one of our men was even injured chasing after a drug addict.”
He said the latest three-day raid carried out between Feb 4 and Feb 6 in Ipoh and Selama arrested 80 individuals in total aged between 25 and 70.
“Among those arrested were two wanted people, and about 80% of those caught are repeat offenders.
Addressing concerns that enforcement is not stringent enough on drug-related offences, DSP Zulkafli assured that narcotics criminal investigation department officers were conducting raids daily.
“There is public concern about the increasing number of drug-related cases, and some even accuse us of not doing enough.
“I want to assure the people that we carry out daily operations throughout the state,” he told a press conference at the state police contingent headquarters here on Friday (Feb 7).
He said there were individuals with various drug-related offences arrested, remanded and brought to court every day.
DCP Zulkafli added that from January until Feb 6, Perak police have detained 2,293 individuals over various drug-related offences in the integrated Ops Tapis held in the state.
He said different types of drugs worth RM770,766.96 were seized during the period.
Among the drugs seized were heroin, ganja, ketamine, syabu, Erimin 5 and yaba pills.
