GUA MUSANG: A man's attempt to bend the truth about his interstate trip was foiled after the police caught him trying to transport 160kg of ketum leaves to Kelantan.
Gua Musang district police chief Superintendent Sik Choon Foo said the 38-year-old man was driving alone from Kedah to Gua Musang, Kelantan, through Simpang Pulai in a car filled with 16 black plastic bags of ketum leaves.
The man, he added, had lied about his permit to travel interstate, which he applied to visit his mother in Kedah.
He was stopped at a roadblock in Kampung Kundur near here at 4pm on Tuesday.
Sik said the suspect had thought that it was safer to use this route to get to Kota Baru, instead of the Gerik-Jeli highway.
"When checks were made, the police found 16 black plastic bags containing 160kg of ketum leaves, believed to be brought in from the northern states.
"Investigations also found that the suspect had confessed to lying about visiting his mother in Kedah to obtain a permit," he told reporters at the district police station here, today.
Sik said the Jalan Simpang Pulai, Perak to Gua Musang was often being used as a route for ketum leaf transporters.
He also said the suspect who was arrested, only received a fee of RM1,500 to transport the leaves to the intended destination.
It was also learnt that the suspect's past three attempts of moving ketum leaves had been successful, and was this time thwarted after the police tightened interstate travel surveillance.
The man's urine test also returned positive for methamphetamine. He is currently being remanded until April 11, Sik added.
The case is being investigated under Section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1952 and Section 15(1)(A) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.