KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — The Bukit Aman Integrity and Standard Compliance Department has detected police involvement in processing and selling ketum juice, said its director Datuk Zamri Yahya.
He said that the activities were detected as there were Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) personnel who have misused residential barracks as a place to process and sell ketum juice.
“This is very worrying because the involvement of police personnel in the activity has never happened and has never been detected before.
“In the past there were reports of ketum intake among personnel but now it has shifted to selling and processing activities, with them also hiring others for around RM80 a day to sell it,” he told Bernama.
He said that a series of arrests have been made of more than 10 policemen suspected of being involved in processing and selling ketum juice in several raids as a result of intelligence, recently.
“Police personnel with the rank of sergeant and below were detained at two locations here and in the barracks of the General Operations Force (GOF) Northern Brigade Ulu Kinta, Perak which was used as a place to process the ketum juice.
“They are looking for customers and selling to them to earn extra money despite receiving a monthly salary doing their actual job as policemen,” he said.
Zamri also said that other arrests were being made of policemen for suspected involvement of abusing police patrol cars for the purpose of smuggling ketum to Thailand.
“Following that, the police are actively conducting investigations to identify the extent of their involvement. This is what was successfully found, not including the ones that have yet to be uncovered,” he said.
According to Zamri, all personnel involved will face action of being suspended or terminated if found guilty. — Bernama