Police Arrest Man Carrying 2,790 Kg Of Ketum Leaves In Jeli

JELI, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- Police arrested a lorry driver with 2,790 kilogrammes (kg) of ketum leaves at Jalan Batu 13 on the East-West Highway near Kampung Batu Melintang here, yesterday.

Jeli district police chief Supt Saari Yaacob said the 29-year-old suspect was arrested at 6.15 pm by a Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department team and a patrol car (MPV) unit while conducting a roadblock.

"Our members saw the lorry in a suspicious condition and immediately acted to order the suspect to stop the vehicle and asked him to open the closed storage space in the lorry.

"On inspection, police found 279 black plastic packages containing 2,790 kilogrammes of ketum leaves estimated to be worth RM111,600," he said at a press conference in the Jeli police headquarters (IPD), here today.

Explaining further, Saari said the investigation found that the supply of ketum leaves was obtained from the northern state to enter the market in the Machang and Pasir Puteh districts at a selling price of RM40 per kilogramme.

"We found that the suspect hired the lorry for RM800 per trip to bring in the supply of ketum leaves to Kelantan and the suspect has no criminal record.

"We also seized the lorry involved with an estimated value of RM130,000 and the suspect has been remanded for four days from February 21 to 24 for further investigation," he said.

He said the case would be investigated under Section 30 (3) of the Poisons Act 1952, and if convicted, the offender could be fined not more than RM100,000 or imprisoned not more than five years or both.

"The amount of ketum leaves seized could be used by an estimated 10,000 ketum addicts and we hope the community will provide information to the police to combat the smuggling of ketum leaves and drugs into the state," he said.

-- BERNAMA