KOTA KINABALU: Police have discovered a new way to smuggle drugs using modified chopping boards with the arrest of two suspects in Penampang.
The two men, aged 28 and 29, were nabbed for possessing over 39.5kg of syabu worth around RM1.264mil during a raid in Taman Donggongon near here on Tuesday.
They also tested positive for benzom, said Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun.
He said during the 11.30pm operation, the narcotics team raided a house where they found the suspects with 40 packages stored with syabu.
“These drugs were packed in plastic bags and sealed inside chopping boards,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Comm Jauteh said the chopping boards were cut in two, whereby one part was carved out to store drugs, before being sealed.
“This is the first modus operandi of this sort we have encountered,” he said, adding that the two suspects were from Peninsular Malaysia and were in Sabah to receive the ‘goods’ that were transported via sea courier services.
He believed the drugs were meant to be supplied to over 160,000 addicts in Sabah.
Comm Jauteh said meetings would be held with other agencies, including courier companies and Bukit Aman Narcotics Department, to prevent smuggling activities.
He said the two suspects, one with several previous criminal convictions, have been remanded until Jan 14 while police conduct investigations under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Asked if they believed there could be other accomplices or whether this syndicate is linked to international drug dealers, he said they were not ruling out such possibilities.
