Trio transporting 50,000g of ketum leaves caught at Penang roadblock

Three men en route to Kuala Lumpur to deliver 50,000 grammes of ketum leaves were nabbed by police at an Ops Covid-19 roadblock at the Jawi toll plaza here, early yesterday.

The trio, in their 20s, had acquired the ketum leaf supply from a friend in Bertam, and were just beginning their journey for a RM500 payment.

Seberang Prai Selatan district police chief Superintendent Lee Chong Chern said a team of policemen was manning the roadblock at about 12.30am yesterday when they stopped a grey Proton Wira with three men who were behaving suspiciously.

He said the team carried out a body search and found nothing suspicious.

“They then conducted a search inside the car, in the car boot, and found five gunny sacks with the words ‘Crescent Foods Inc’ on them.

“Inside each sack, there were 45 transparent packages, believed to contain the ketum leaves, all of which weighed about 50,000g,” he said today.

Further checks on the trio found that all have criminal records.

Lee said they were detained and taken to the district police headquarters for further investigation.

The case is being investigated under Section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1952 for control of import, export, manufacture, sale, supply and use of any psychotropic substance. Nst