RANAU: The district police have intensified their efforts to combat drug and ketum abuse in the district with the arrest of two local men through Ops Tapis conducted here recently.
In the first case, a 32-year-old local man was arrested after police found 19 bottles of ketum water in a raid in a village in the district, on Sunday.
The arrest was made at about 6.50 pm when members of the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Division (BSJN) of the Ranau District Police Headquarters (IPD) conducted an inspection at the suspect’s house, who is an unemployed man.
In addition to the 19 bottles of ketum water, police also seized several equipment believed to be used to process the drink, including a gas canister, a stove, a pot, a white polystyrene container and a yellow plastic canister.
In a separate case, police from the Ranau BSJN (IPD) also arrested another local man aged 41 for the same offence in Kg Sagindai Lama, Ranau on Saturday.
The police investigation found a plastic bottle containing a liquid suspected to be Ketum water on the table in front of the suspect who was sitting at the time of the incident.
The case is being investigated under Section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1952 for the offence of possessing, selling, distributing, or processing ketum leaves without permission.
If found guilty, the suspect can be fined up to RM10,000, or imprisoned for up to 4 years, or both upon conviction.
