Coronavirus: Malaysia police see new trends in drug trade amid movement curbs

Malaysia entered its 35th day of the movement control order on April 21, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - New trends in drug trafficking and abuse have emerged during Malaysia's movement restrictions in the past month, says the director of Narcotic Crimes Investigation Department (NCID) at police headquarters.

Malaysia on Tuesday (April 21) entered its 35th day of the movement control order (MCO), with the third phase to end on April 28.

Commissioner Ramli Din said one new trend detected is foreign nationals distributing such substances among their countrymen.

"We discovered that there were foreigners getting drug supplies and trafficking among themselves during the MCO," he told The Star when contacted on Tuesday.

"They are limiting the drug distribution to only their countrymen to avoid detection during the MCO period."

There are 2.2 million migrant workers in Malaysia, and some 3.3 million more who are undocumented workers.

Datuk Ramli said the police are on to them.

"We are also aware of other drug pushers trafficking in smaller amounts.

The second new method detected is using some workers of food delivery platforms who use motorcycles to send their "packages".

But he added that not all delivery riders are complicit and some have even provided tip-offs.

"There are also those who reported suspicious packages that turned out to be drug deliveries. We commend those who cooperated with us to stop this activity," Mr Ramli said.

"However, those who are in cahoots with the traffickers would demand higher 'tips' from their clients."

The NCID has met with representatives of various delivery companies even before the MCO came into force on March 18, to get their cooperation in preventing such occurrences, he added.

Another disturbing trend involves drug-laden parties being held during the MCO, said the NCID chief.

"We have made multiple arrests at such parties in various states. The party-goers would resort to having their own private parties as they could not go to entertainment outlets," he said.

The most recent raid on such a party was on Sunday (April 19) when 12 people were arrested in Penang, he added.

The NCID, according to Commissioner Ramli, is actively conducting enforcement operations nationwide and collecting actionable intelligence, as the demand for drugs is getting higher despite the ongoing MCO.

"We cannot afford to let our guard down.

"So far, we managed to make various follow-up arrests based on information gathered and we will continue to do. Drugs remain the nation's number one enemy," he said.

He previously said 3,923 people were detained for drug-related offences nationwide between March 18 and April 16.

"From those detained, 208 of them were arrested for drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952.

"We also seized RM7.5 million (S$2.44 million) worth of drugs during the same period," he said.

Mr Ramli said during phase one of the MCO (two weeks from March 18 to March 31), the drug pushing trend was slow but it began to pick up in phase two (April 1 to 14).

"In phase two, we discovered that large-scale traffickers are back in business due to demand from their customers," he said.

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