KUCHING: Sarawak needs better, modern equipment to enhance its efficiency in screening cargoes at major ports and reduce the smuggling of illicit substances.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah pointed this out after visiting the Customs Examination Area at Senari Terminal, Kuching Port Authority today (Feb 18).
“The chances of smuggling drugs and substances or other prohibited goods through cargoes at port terminals are high due to the increasing daily volumes of cargoes,” she said in a press statement in conjunction with her visit.
Fatimah added that there were limited mechanisms to detect drugs and substances which were being smuggled through cargoes declared by importers.
She said most of the large-scale seizures of drugs and substances carried out by the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) in Sarawak since last year were through various sources.
These sources, she explained, were passenger luggage passing through entry points at the state’s airports, parcels through courier companies, cargoes passing through cargo centres at major airports in Sarawak, and cargoes passing through ports in the state such as those in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, and Miri.
“Last year, 58.62kg of various types of drugs and substances valued at RM1.87 million were seized by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) through these various sources,” she said.
Members of the Drug and Substance Abuse Enforcement Working Committee chaired by ACP Jasmirol Jamaluddin, head of JSJN Sarawak, also joined Fatimah’s working visit.
The committee is one of five technical working committees under the One Stop Committee (OSC) on addressing drug and substance abuse (MIDS) for Sarawak established by the state government.
OSC MIDS was established especially to address the enforcement, distribution, smuggling and possession of drugs and substances in an integrated and holistic manner.
