TAWAU, Jan 18: Police detained five individuals including two women, believed to be drug traffickers and seized 28.79 kilogrammes of syabu worth RM1.5 million in a raid last Thursday (Jan 14).
Tawau district police chief, ACP Peter Umbuas said the suspects, aged between 16 and 55, were nabbed through Op Benteng raid at 8 pm in an oil palm plantation area, Batu 10, Jalan Apas here.
“A police team from Tawau Police Criminal Investigation Department raided two vehicles behaving suspiciously.
“Upon inspecting one of the vehicles, police found a black bag containing 25 packages and a brown bag containing drugs,” he said in a press conference here today.
Peter said a preliminary investigation found that the drugs were believed to be smuggled into a neighbouring country and could be used by 140,000 drug addicts.
He said that urine test results showed all suspects were negative for drugs and they possessed no criminal records.
The five detained are now remanded for seven days since last Friday for further investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952,
In a separate development, Peter said residents in the Merotai, Bombalai and Kalabakan areas are urged to obtain approval letters from the nearest police stations before entering Tawau.- Bernama
