213 addicts nabbed in Felda drug crackdown

New Straits Times » Local

213 addicts nabbed in Felda drug crackdown
M. Hamzah Jamaludin

BANDAR JENGKA, Apr 24:
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A massive anti-drug operation overnight netted 213 suspected addicts and four suspected traffickers at Felda schemes in the State.
Police confiscated more than 1,800 psychotropic pills, 34.2 grammes of heroin and five grammes of ganja in the 11pm-8am operation.

State police chief Datuk Ramli Yusuff said 423 policemen were involved in the operation, which covered Felda schemes in Maran, Muadzam Shah, Temerloh, Jerantut and Bentong.

He said 66 suspects were arrested in Felda Jengka alone.

Seventeen were also confirmed as HIV-positive.

The first phase of the operation, codenamed Ops Tapis, involved a house- to-house search while the second phase, which began today, will involve a "sting operation" at the drug- selling spots.

"We are focusing on those spots which are known as ‘ports’ among drug addicts," Ramli said after attending a briefing on Ops Tapis at the Bandar Jengka police station here today.

He said police had identified 16 such "ports" at Felda schemes, where addicts normally bought their drugs.

Ramli said three of the four suspected traffickers arrested last night were being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries a mandatory death sentence.

Two of them, aged 34 and 37, were arrested at a mosque parking lot in Bentong while the third, in his 30s, was nabbed at his home in Rompin.

He said investigations showed the drugs were brought in from southern Thailand, Johor and Kuala Lumpur.

Last year, he said, 2,118 addicts were arrested at Felda schemes in the State.