KOTA BARU: The General Operations Force (GOF) South-East Brigade has made seizures totalling RM1.93mil in four separate operations in Kelantan involving drugs, undocumented migrants, ketum juice and illegal logging activities.
Its commander, Senior Asst Comm Ahmad Radzi Hussain (pic) said the operations were conducted under Ops Taring Wawasan Kelantan and Ops Bersepadu Khazanah in cooperation with various enforcement agencies.
He said in the first case on May 18, officers detained a man behaving suspiciously while sitting on a motorcycle by the roadside in front of Politeknik Kota Baru.
They discovered five transparent bottles containing 50,400ml of mushroom-based drug liquid inside a plastic bag.
"The 32-year-old suspect from Perlis led officers to a house in Kampung Wakaf Stan here, where additional items including a mobile phone were found, bringing the total value of the seizure to RM762,000," he said in a statement on Thursday (May 28).
SAC Ahmad Radzi said in the second case, 19 Myanmar nationals, comprising 13 men and six women aged between 17 and 40, were detained near Kampung Jeram Perdah, Pasir Mas on May 20.
He said all the suspects were believed to have entered Malaysia through illegal routes.
"On the same day at about 1.30pm, we crippled ketum processing and distribution activities in two separate operations in Kampung Pulau Pisang and Pulau Pak Amat here.
"The operations led to the seizure of ketum processing equipment, 623 packets of ketum juice amounting to 623 litres and 268kg of ketum leaves, with an estimated value of RM58,930," he said, adding that the activities were believed to have been ongoing for the past three years.
He said the suspects detained were believed to be working part-time processing ketum for daily wages, with the products sold locally at RM10 per packet.
Meanwhile, in the fourth case, SAC Ahmad Radzi said six suspects were detained after officers raided a timber storage facility in Kampung Lubok Tapah, Pasir Mas at about 3.30pm on Monday (May 25) after the owner failed to produce operating licences and machinery permits.
"Further inspections uncovered various wood processing machines, heavy machinery, saw blades, different types of logs and 50,000 planks, with total seizures amounting to RM1.1mil," he said. – Bernama
