SABAH POLICE THWART DRUG SMUGGLING ACTIVITIES WORTH OVER RM1 MLN USING 'SASABAN'

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 8 -- Police thwarted a drug smuggling operation, worth RM1.26 million, into Sabah using 'sasaban' (cutting board in the local language), in a raid in Penampang on Tuesday (Jan 6).

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun said in the raid at 11.30 pm on a house in Taman Donggongon, officers and members from the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (JSJN) of the Sabah contingent police headquarters seized 39.5 kilogrammes of drugs and arrested two local men, aged 28 and 29 respectively.

He said the suspects’ modus operandi was to conceal packages of methamphetamine or crystal meth in cutting boards before transporting the cutting boards into Sabah from Kuala Lumpur by sea via cargo shipment.

“The result of public information, the raid carried out on a house revealed 40 transparent plastic bags containing clear crystal chunks suspected to be methamphetamine or crystal meth, hidden inside the cutting boards.

"They used the tactic of hiding the drugs inside the boards, which were split in half and hollowed out in the middle before being closed again to avoid detection by the authorities during routine inspections," he said at a press conference at the Sabah police headquarters here today.

Elaborating further, Jauteh said the two suspects, from Kuala Lumpur, were responsible for collecting the items from the delivery company before distributing them to the local market. The suspects have been remanded until Jan 14 to assist with the investigation, and the case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

He said the total amount of drugs seized was able to supply about 160,000 users for a single use, and believed to be for distribution in the state.

-- BERNAMA