TAWAU: Police arrested two brothers suspected to be dealers and another two female family members and seized 27kg of cannabis (ganja) in a raid on the stairs of a building at Batu 10 Jalan Apas around 5pm, last Monday.
The confiscation of cannabis hidden in 29 packages estimated worth RM90,000 was the biggest recorded by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) Tawau this year.
District police chief ACP Jasmin Hussin said the seizure and arrest was carried out by a team of officers and members from the Narcotics Crime Division of IPD Tawau and IPK Sabah.
“Our team managed to arrest two male suspects who were lifting three boxes from a vehicle in the parking area of the building.
“Two more female suspects were also detained in the vehicle, one in the driver’s seat and the other in the front passenger seat,” he said, Thursday.
According to him, an inspection of the three boxes being lifted by the two male suspects found that there were 29 packages each containing compressed lumps of suspected cannabis-type drugs weighing 27,315.60gm.
Preliminary investigations found that the drugs were brought into the country from neighbouring countries for the eastern Sabah coastal market and border areas and were estimated to supply around 20,000 people.
Jasmin said that the four suspects, aged between 20 and 43, were related to each other. The three foreigners were siblings and one local was their cousin.
Initial investigations also found that it was a new syndicate and was successfully crippled with the arrest of all four suspects.
All the suspects have no past criminal record and their urine tests were negative for drug abuse.
The case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries a mandatory death sentence, if convicted.
