KOTA KINABALU – Sabah security officials have confiscated RM18.9 million worth of contraband and nabbed 277 suspects in the first half of this year.
General Operations Force (GOF) commander Mohd Abduh Ismail said the seized items consisted largely of cigarettes while the rest of the items were alcohol, drugs, firearms and wildlife meat.
Abduh said the success of the various crackdowns codenamed Op Contraband, Op Benteng and Op Khazanah was in part thanks to information from the GOF’s intelligence unit and members of the public.
“For individual arrests, investigations are being conducted under the Immigration Act involving 127 individuals, Dangerous Drugs Act (80 individuals), Customs Act (40 individuals), Control of Supplies Act (21 individuals), Forestry Act (two individuals) and Firearms Act (one person).
“The highest number of arrests were made in Tawau (154 individuals) followed by Beluran (78 individuals),” he said at a press conference in Kinarut today.
Abduh said the achievement was an improvement from last year which saw 148 cases, 412 arrests and RM12.2 million worth of seized items.
“Cross-border criminals are believed to have taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to commit crime.
“We will continue our efforts to conduct inspections and intelligence work from time to time to curb cross-border activities in our waters.
“This includes law enforcement (teams) involving five battalions from Tawau, Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Lahad Datu, and Beluran,” he said. – The Vibes, July 5, 2021
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