KUALA LUMPUR: Synthetic narcotics now dominate Malaysia’s drug threat, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
The Home Minister said traffickers increasingly use the east coast as a key transit route.
He cited a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report showing synthetics dominate in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.
“Opium remains a concern globally, but synthetics are now the main challenge. In our country, the east coast has become the main corridor,” he said,
“Last year alone, we seized nearly 10 tonnes of pil kuda in Kelantan,” Saifuddin added in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Oct 30).
To tackle the issue, he instructed the Kelantan police chief to demolish over 200 illegal jetties along the Golok River.
Between January and September, the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department recorded significant successes.
Total drug seizures were valued at RM2bil, involving syabu, ganja, ecstasy and other narcotics.
In the same period, authorities crippled 16 illegal drug processing laboratories and arrested 44 suspects.
Selangor recorded the highest number of busts, with five labs uncovered and 20 individuals detained.
The ministry opened 174,134 investigation papers under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and the Poisons Act 1952.
These led to 189,451 arrests nationwide.
Notable operations included the arrest of a Taiwanese national with ecstasy, syabu and cocaine worth RM54.5mil.
In January, eight Taiwanese suspects were detained in Taman Industri Alam Jaya 2, Selangor.
Police seized 132kg of ketamine and 291kg of ecstasy and Erimin pills worth RM55mil.
In a separate January operation at Port Klang, police seized 33.2 tonnes of syabu worth RM1.06bil in a container.
In February in Bandar Damansara, three Chinese nationals were arrested with syabu valued at RM24mil.
In April in Sri Petaling, police seized ecstasy, syabu and ketamine worth RM13.6mil.
In June in Kelantan, 207kg of ganja valued at RM642,000 was confiscated.
In Perlis, 409kg of ganja was found abandoned in a boat along border waters.
