04 January 2013 | last updated at 01:07PM
Police raid ketum "kitchen"
By Nor Nadirah Ahmad | [email protected]
JITRA: Police busted a ketum "kitchen" in Kampung Kota Mengkuang near here yesterday.
Acting on a tip-off, a police party from the Kubang Pasu district raided the make-shift kitchen, located in the woods outside the village, at about 12.30pm.
District police Chief Deputy Superintendent Ibrahim Mohd Yusof said a youth, 24, believed to be the operator of the kitchen was nabbed at the scene.
He said the suspect was among three people involved believed to have set up the kitchen since a few weeks ago.
"We believe they buy ketum leaves elsewhere and turn them into drinks to be sold among ketum juice addicts in the village," he told reporters.
He said the case would be investigated under Section 30(3) of the Poison Act, 1952. Those found guilty of the offence would face a RM10,000 fine or two years' imprisonment or both.
The raiding party seized 12kg of ketum leaves, 200 packets of ketum juice, worth RM500, and several paraphenelia, including a large pot and stove, from the "kitchen".
