KUALA LUMPUR: Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain has instructed the Kedah police to immediately suspend all policemen who were arrested and tested positive for drugs during a recent raid on an entertainment outlet in the state.
"I have instructed the Kedah police to suspend these personnel immediately.
"Aside from that, we will also be going after their supervisors. We will be taking action against them under Rule 3C of the Public Officers Regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993.
"The supervisors will also be transferred from their current posts because they are not fit to manage their subordinates," he said when contacted today.
Razarudin's comments come on the heels of the arrest of a dozen police personnel in Kedah recently who tested positive for drugs.
News of the arrest was circulated on Telegram earlier today.
The message claimed that Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department raided an entertainment outlet at Sungai Petani on Wednesday and checked 48 individuals there with 31 of them testing positive for drugs.
Of the 31 who tested positive, two were police officers while 10 others were rank and file personnel.
Razarudin stressed that he would not turn a blind eye to personnel guilty of crimes and those with disciplinary issues.
He also reminded his personnel to be exemplary members of the society.
"We are tasked to enforce the law and are responsible for keeping the public safe.
"Our personnel should always conduct themselves according to the letter of the law," he said, adding that they will not compromise with personnel who were found to have committed crimes or with disciplinary issues.
"Let this be a stern warning to our personnel. You have been entrusted to uphold the law, but that does not mean that you are above the law.
"We will take the necessary action in accordance with the law against personnel who were found to have committed any criminal offences.
"We will not stand idle and protect these bad apples who could taint the police force," he said.
In an exclusive recently, the New Straits Times reported that more than 600 policemen have been caught abusing drugs over the past decade, and most of them have been sacked.
The stress of police work and the constant proximity to drugs and drug pushers can prove to be too much of a pull for some, and in the past decade, 505 policemen have lost their jobs due to drug addiction.
In the past decade, 50 officers and 581 policemen of other ranks have been disciplined for drug use, highlighting the depth of the drug problem in Malaysia.
Federal Police Integrity and Standards Compliance Department (JIPS) director Datuk Seri Azri Ahmad said it could not be denied that drug-related issues within the force were partly due to the nature of police work and access to drug dealers.
He said in 2014, 45 policemen were dismissed, followed by 43 in 2015, 53 in 2016, 52 in 2017, 38 in 2018, 52 in 2019, 58 in 2020, 42 in 2021, 55 in 2022, and 51 last year.
"Up to August this year, there have been 16 cases," he told the NST in an exclusive interview.