SIK: For a payment of RM500, a jobless man braved violating the standard operating procedure (SOP) under the Movement Control Order (MCO) by misusing the permit for cross-district travel to take 100 bags of ketum leaves from Naka in Kuala Nerang, Kedah to Kelantan instead.
Sik district police chief, DSP Abdull Razak Osman said the 29-year-old was arrested at the ‘Op Covid-19’ roadblock in Jalan Jeniang-Sik, here, at 3.30 am today.
“The ketum leaves, estimated to weigh 1,000 kilogrammes and worth about RM10,000 were being transported in a three-tonne lorry. Packed in black plastic bags, the ketum leaves were hidden behind empty baskets.
“The suspect had permission for cross-district travel, being applied for to transport animal feed to Penang but the permit was misused,“ he said at the Sik district police headquarters, here.
Abdull Razak said the suspect gave the excuse for his action to the hard time he was going through and half of the RM500 had been paid before departing and the other half to be paid in Kelantan.
“The current market price for ketum is RM10 per kg and can be sold there (in Kelantan) at RM40 to RM50 per kg. The suspect is believed to have come to Kedah three times and involved in ketum trafficking since a year ago.
“He also has a record of committing four offences related to drugs and the urine test found him to be positive for methamphetamine,” he said, adding that the suspect was issued a summons for flouting the MCO SOP and Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988. — Bernama
