TAWAU: Police nabbed a suspected drug dealer who tried to evade arrest by concealing 7.4kg of drugs worth RM444,400 in a paint barrel covered with two packets of flour at the Tawau Port jetty, here, on Aug. 8.
The drugs are believed to have been brought into the district as a transit point before being smuggled out of Tawau.
Tawau District Police Chief ACP Jasmin Hussin said the 22-year-old foreigner was detained at 10.10am while carrying a white sack.
Inspections on the sack led to the discovery of another green sack containing a barrel of paint.
Examination of the paint barrel led to the discovery of seven green plastic packages with the words “Guanyinwang” printed on it and two flour packets, he told a media conference at the Tawau Police Headquarters, Monday.
The seven packages were found to contain substance suspected syabu weighing 7.4kg meant to be smuggled out of Tawau.
The suspect has no criminal record and tested negative for drugs. Police are actively tracing drug trafficking network and welcomes cooperation from the public to channel information.
“From January to August this year, we seized a total of 23,734.12kg of Syabu in Tawau,” he said.
He advised parents to monitor their teenage children, including getting them to go for urine test as an early prevention measure to ensure they are not engaged in substance abuse.
He said drug activities is operated by irresponsible quarters who only want to earn easy and fast money without thinking of the consequences it brings to the community.
“We are not able to eradicate drug trafficking as long as there is a demand. Therefore, we ask for cooperation from everyone to combat this menace,” he said.
