The Malaysian police chief Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said enforcement officers have intensified the crackdown on drugs because the level of substance abuse has reached breaking point.
“If we do not tackle it I think it will reach the level of what we find in Colombia,” he warned.
He says Malaysia has intensified the efforts to curb drug proliferation and abuse, gambling and vice on all fronts in the past two months.
“If we do not tackle it now, the abuse will be on par with Colombia,” he told reporters.
He added the police force is planning a nationwide crackdown targeting all the joints.
“We must accept the fact that drug abuse in this country is at a breaking point level,” he said.
The Narcotic Crimes Investigation Department has redoubled efforts in the crack down and has conducted a lot of successful raids.
He said hundreds of kilo’s and millions in assets have been confiscated.
He also said the police may use the anti-money laundering act to target syndicates, adding there are many more drug pushers in the country.
In a shocking admission, the Malaysian police chief on Monday said there are too many addicts in the police force and that this does not help fight drug proliferation in Malaysia.
Reuters quoted the police chief Inspector-General Abdul Hamid Bador adding that there is an increase in substance abuse.
“We can see the number of addicts doubling,” Inspector-General Abdul Hamid Bador told reporters.
“Not only among ordinary people but among my own men. Every week we have surfaced, arrested our own men high on meth, shabu*, and all this.”
Abdul Hamid also revealed that, since January, about 30 policemen have been nabbed for drug abuse.
He said the police were in talks with the government on ways to further reduce the accessibility drug smugglers and traffickers have to the local market.