TAWAU: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) has seized over five kilogrammes of drugs suspected to be syabu and 1001 pills of Ecstasy worth RM177,120.60 at the old Tawau CIQ jetty here on Friday.
Deputy Director-General of Customs for Sabah Zone, Datuk Mohd Nasir Deraman, said the seizure was carried out through Operation Dragon VI, which was implemented from April 19 to September 19.
He said the incident occurred at around 2.36 p.m., when a 22-year-old local man was believed to be the individual carrying all the drugs.
“The operation team conducting the inspection of goods in the area detected a local man carrying a suspicious brown box.
“The examination of the brown box revealed five packages of Chinese tea suspected to contain syabu drugs and five small plastic packets containing pink-coloured Ecstasy pills,” he said at a press conference on Saturday.
Mohd Nasir said the suspect was arrested and taken to the JKDM Enforcement Branch Office in Tawau along with all the drugs for further investigation.
“The suspect’s modus operandi is believed to be smuggling illegal substances, suspected drugs, wrapped in Alishan Jia Xuan Tea-branded Chinese tea.
“The suspect is also believed to have attempted to smuggle all the drugs out of the Tawau district using the sea route to Pulau Sebatik,” Mohd Nasir explained.
He added that the suspect has been remanded for 14 days starting from the date of arrest, and the case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
“We urge the public to assist JKDM in combating smuggling crimes, especially cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, fireworks, drugs, vehicles, and others.
“Smuggling not only causes financial losses to the country, but it also poses a threat to national security and the well-being of the people,” he said.
