KOTA KINABALU: A teenager suspected of transporting drugs in the Tawau district has been arrested.
The 19-year-old immigrant, who admitted to being paid a few thousand ringgit per trip, was arrested in front of a cold storage centre along Jalan Chong Thien Vun on Thursday night.
Tawau OCPD Asst Comm Jasmin Hussin said the suspect was driving along the road when he was asked to pull over by patrol units at about 10.15pm.
“Our narcotics team had monitored and tailed the suspect before instructing him to pull over,” he said in a statement.
ACP Jasmin said upon inspection of the vehicle and suspect, they found a plastic bag filled with what they believed was syabu weighing over 1kg.
“The value of this drug was around RM35,000.”
The initial investigation suggested that the teenager was acting as a runner in the district, transporting the drugs to a neighbouring country.
He said that the youth was arrested and would be investigated under the Dangerous Drugs Act.
In an unrelated case, police are pursuing the mastermind behind drug-dealing activities following the arrest of a nightclub manager in Penampang.
During an operation on Friday night, police nabbed a 39-year-old local businessman who was discovered to be in possession of various drugs valued at around RM48,000.
State Narcotics Crime Investigation chief Asst Comm Alhusin Halil said the suspect was apprehended at 8.05pm at the Bundusan commercial area.
“During the raid, the suspect had surrendered a plastic packet for police to inspect.
“Our personnel discovered that the packets contained about 214.97g of ecstasy and 113.22g of suspected ketamine powder,” he said.
The suspect’s arrest led to a crackdown on an apartment unit nearby, where more illegal items, including ecstasy, ketamine and cigarettes believed to be laced with drugs, were found.
