JOHOR BARU: A total of 22 years worth of illegal drugs confiscated by the state police worth RM5.4mil will be destroyed following the completion of court cases involving the drugs, says Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat.
He said the drugs would be brought to the Kualiti Alam waste management centre in Bukit Pelanduk, Negri Sembilan, to be disposed of using an environmentally-friendly method.
“This year, we have disposed of 322.1kg of drugs and 1,562 litres of liquid drugs worth RM5.4mil.
“The items were part of 3,214 investigation papers from 2000 to 2022 related to drug cases, of which all of them have completed their court trials.
“Years ago, drugs such as ketum would often be broken up into smaller bits and then disposed of into the ocean. But now, we are implementing an environmentally-friendly way to dispose of these items,” he told reporters at the Johor police headquarters here yesterday.
The disposed drugs comprised heroin (19.4kg), cannabis (28.3kg), ketamine (15kg), methamphetamine (8kg), methylenedioxy methamphetamine (10kg), ketum (236.4kg) and other various types of drugs weighing 4.4kg.
Major haul: Comm Kamarul Zaman (left) and team showing some of the confiscated drugs at Padang Kawad IPK Johor.
Comm Kamarul Zaman also said that last year, police destroyed 301.5kg of drugs and 642 litres of liquid drugs worth RM6.1mil.
“This procedure will continue to be carried out until all of those involved in drug cases are charged in court.
“People often ask what will happen to the drugs that we have confiscated. This is what we do to them,” he added.
He said police officers would go with the drugs to the disposal centre to ensure the items were properly destroyed.
Comm Kamarul Zaman said some of the cases involved drug syndicates which were crippled with the public sharing quality information regarding drug activities in their areas with the police.
He said from January until Nov 20 this year, the Johor Narcotics Crime Investigation Department confiscated 4.6 tonnes of drugs worth RM33.7mil.
“We also arrested 15,167 suspects,” he added.
