Kota Kinabalu: Eleven people, including a Datuk, were charged in the Sessions Court here Monday with being members of the organised crime group “Geng Upik”, reportedly Sabah’s largest drug syndicate.
However, no pleas were recorded from them after the charges were read out before Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim
The accused are businessman Datuk Maslan Sani, 41, Rahman Burijin, 44, Jaisalfian Jaineh@Zaini, 45, Mohd Fauzie Rablin, 33, Shahlan Shah Abdul Samad, 37, Nelson Yen Yee Chung, 51, Mohd Faridzul Asmahadi, 31, Fazrul Bahar, 32, Alkan Abraham, 35, Mazlan Mahmud, 49, and Mahathir Jibarail, 49.
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The Datuk among charged.
Maslan, Shahlan and Alkan were charged with committing the offence in 2015; Rahman, Jaisalfian, Mazlan and Mahathir in 2018; Mohd Faridzul and Fazrul in 2020; Mohd Fauzie in 2022; and Nelson last year.
All the accused were charged with being members of the organised crime group under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code, which is punishable with a jail term of between five years and 20 years.
Noor Hafizah set March 1 for mention and no bail was allowed.
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The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Datuk Nazran Mohd Sham, Siti Hajah Mat Radzi and Nur Ainaa Ridzwan.
Lawyer Muhamad Amirul Amin represented Jaisalfian; Sylyester Kuan represented Mohd Fauzie, while Shahlan Jufri and Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi represented Shahlan Shah, Mohd Faridzul and Fazrul.
The others were not represented.
On Dec 25, police arrested a businessman with the title Datuk who led the largest drug distribution syndicate in Sabah through a series of raids conducted by federal police.
The 40-year-old man was said to have overseen a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to protect his illicit activities since 2015.
The syndicate was also found to be involved in money laundering through various luxury businesses operated by its members, including oil and gas companies and a chain of restaurants.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay had previously stated that the leader of the syndicate was among the 10 individuals arrested by federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) police and an Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) team in raids in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Semporna.
He had said since the arrest of the leader and members of the syndicate, police had seized various assets, including 22 bank accounts with frozen savings amounting to RM420,000, 18 luxury vehicles worth RM6.6 million, jewellery and watches worth about RM100,000, and cash amounting to RM35,000.
