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Kiatisak Chua

The Star

Publication Date : 07-03-2013

More than 60 per cent of drug abusers in the country are on synthetic drugs compared to traditional drugs such as heroin and ganja.

Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department deputy director I  Haris Wong Abdullah said this phenomenon was not only happening in Malaysia but the whole world.

“It is a worrying trend to see the transition of drug users from the traditional opium-based drugs to synthetic drugs like ecstasy and shabu,” he said yesterday during a high-profile policing walkabout and meet-and-greet programme at Taman Iping in Batu Maung, near here.

He said enforcement officers were constantly looking for laboratories that produce these drugs, adding that the public could play a big role by alerting police if they know of such places in their neighbourhood.

Haris said the production of synthetic drugs had shifted to residential areas, both on landed property and high-rise buildings.

He said police had also stationed anti-narcotics personnel in every major airport in the country to prevent drugs from being smuggled in.

“The Customs are also taking their own measures by profiling passengers whom they think are high-risk drug couriers.”

“We cannot say that this is a 100 per cent foolproof plan but we have made a few arrests through the profiling from the Narcotics Department and Customs,” said Haris.

He said said police were conducting such walkabouts because the community wanted to meet them.