KOTA KINABALU: A teenager has been arrested for transporting drugs in the Tawau district.
The 19-year-old foreigner, who admitted to being paid a few thousand ringgit per trip, was arrested in front of a cold storage centre along Chong Thien Vun road on Thursday (Jan 1) night.
Tawau OCPD Asst Comm Jasmin Hussin said the teenager was driving along the road when he was asked to pull over by patrol units in the area at about 10.15pm.
“Our Narcotics team had monitored and tailed the suspect before instructing him to pull over,” he said in a statement, Saturday (Jan 3).
He said upon inspection of the vehicle and suspect, police found a plastic bag filled with what they believed was syabu weighing over 1kg.
“The value of this drug is around RM35,000,” ACP Jasmin said, adding that the initial probe led them to believe that the teenager was a runner operating in the district, to send those drugs to a neighbouring country.
“The suspect also admitted to receiving tens of millions of Indonesian rupiah (a few thousand ringgit) for each trip made,” he said.
He said the boy was arrested to be investigated under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 while the vehicle he was driving, some jewellery and handphones were also seized.
ACP Jasmin said police would also focus their operation towards finding others involved in this crime in Tawau.
