SHAH ALAM: A 14-year-old boy is among 53 secondary school students who were arrested by the Selangor police for various drug offences.
The Form 2 student was caught in the act using the illegal substance in April and had it confiscated from him by a raiding team from the Selangor Narcotics Crime Investigation Department.
The teenager, who is the youngest in the department’s statistics of high school students from Jan to Oct this year, was arrested alongside two of his peers, a 15-year-old from another school and a dropout aged 17.
Investigated under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug possession, the teenager admitted to investigating officers that he was influenced by his friends to smoke syabu and had been manipulated by adults to buy the illegal substance.
This case was revealed by the department deputy chief Superintendent Sundralingam Rajassundram who said the arrests were made outside of the school premises following information from the public.
Two drugs that are commonly used by secondary school students are syabu and ganja, he said.
Sundralingam said from Jan to Oct this year, a total of 162 students from public and private tertiary institutions (IPTA/IPTS) were arrested for using synthetic drugs such as syabu and “pil kuda.”
They are made up of local and foreign students aged between 18 and 25 who had forked out up to RM300 to feed their drug addiction.
Drug pushers, added Sundralingam, would also lure the students into trying the illegal substance where it will be given out free for the first time.
“The students confessed to using it as it gives them the energy to stay awake and focus on their exam as well as to manage stress. However, those are false inputs that the students believe as drugs will have negative impact to the health.
“An overall statistics of drug use by secondary school students, IPTA and IPTS showed there is a fall of 22 per cent from 245 cases last year to 190 so far this year.
“But those are just statistics and we are not comfortable with it although there is a decline. The drug threat is still there and I believe there are those that we have yet to arrest,” said Sundralingam.
He was speaking at a media engagement session held at the Selangor police contingent headquarters in Section 9, today.
Meanwhile, Sundralingam said on-going anti-drugs operations are being carried out through Ops Tapis Khas, Ops Sarang, Ops Hiburan, Ops Terancang and Ops Bersepadu.
From Jan to Oct this year, he said 13,908 people were arrested for various drug offences in Ops Tapis Khas.
Ops Sarang saw a total of 246 drug dens busted and 1,656 addicts arrested while 121 entertainment centres were raided in Ops Hiburan.
There were 11 raids conducted at drug processing labs and 60 syndicate members were raided in Ops Terancang.
Ops Bersepadu is jointly carried out with the National Anti-Drugs Agency at the districts of Kajang and Petaling Jaya.
A total of 132 people have been arrested under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985 in Selangor, said Sundralingam.
