KOTA KINABALU: Police believe they have crippled a local drug syndicate with the arrest of three suspected dealers and the seizure of syabu weighing 503.56 grams in a raid here yesterday.

Police also picked up a four year-old girl and her eight year-old brother, whose father was among the suspects.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner M Chandra said that in the 7.30pm operation, police detained two unemployed men, aged 33 and 38, after they alighted from a Perodua Viva driven by their 33 year-old accomplice at the University Apartment Plaza in Jalan Sulaman.

After the car drove off, police approached the suspects, after which a scuffle broke out as they resisted arrest, but authorities eventually managed to subdue and apprehend them.

It is believed the suspects, who were found with 10 packets of syabu on their person, were there to meet customers in the area.

The Perodua driver returned to pick up his accomplices shortly after, and was arrested. In the car with him were his two children, whom it is suspected were used as a way to deflect suspicion.

“The siblings are under our watch at the moment.

“With this latest arrest, I believe we have brought down a local drug syndicate which has been operating for more than a month,” he said, adding that a recent seizure worth RM65,000 was the biggest in the district.

“Based on our investigations, the driver and another suspect have a record involving drugs,” he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the death penalty if convicted.

On who the buyers of the syabu could have been, Chandra entertained the possibility that they could have been students in the area.-nst