Suaram urges police to use other relevant laws instead of Sosma to investigate Sabah’s biggest drug bust

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) today expressed its concern on the arbitrary application of the Security Measures (Special Offences) Act 2012 (Sosma) to arrest alleged drug syndicate members.

Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said having the biggest drug syndicate in Sabah, which is also operating transnationally, is not a sufficient basis for the use of Sosma.

“With the above reasoning, we can only surmise that Sosma was used to maximise the period of detention of the suspects involved, which is commonly the case.

“Cases managed by Suaram highlight the ‘hit-and-miss’ arrest and detention of individuals with little to no actual organised crime affiliation who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, based on activities such as donations that have little to no correlation with terrorist activities,” he said in a statement.

Sevan was responding to the arrest of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) patron with the title of ‘Datuk’ who was arrested by police on Monday for his role as the alleged ringleader of what is believed to be Sabah’s largest drugs syndicate to date.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay was reported saying that the 40-year-old suspect was among 10 men, aged from 30 to 48, who were arrested in Sabah in a joint operation carried out by the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) and the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom).

Sevan said contrary to Ayob Khan’s claim, Sosma is less effective than existing laws.

“The Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 is sufficient for enforcement purposes, alongside the scaled-up implementation of evidence-based education and rehabilitation programmes and other holistic initiatives.

“Moreover, Sosma is also a breeding ground for abuse of power, through extended incarceration and absence of fair trial safeguards, including the admissibility of evidence obtained by torture, oppression or even fabrication,” said Sevan.

Sevan noted that Ayob Khan had successfully busted a transnational syndicate without using Sosma during his previous stint as the Johor police chief in 2020.

During that time, he said Ayob Khan had successfully crippled the syndicate’s trafficking of drugs to Indonesia after a series of raids around Johor Baru and Muar, where all the suspects were remanded for seven days for investigations under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Poisons Act 1952.

Sevan urged the police to investigate the 10 suspected drug syndicate leaders and members using the remand process under the CPC.

“Concretising the commitment to amend and eventually abolish Sosma is also essential, in light of not only violations of the right to a fair trial but also the inevitable cascade effect of extended incarceration of detainees on the socioeconomic wellbeing of their families.

“As such, we demand the government to table the long-overdue amendments to the procedural law by the earliest parliamentary sitting in 2024, alongside a specific timeline by which Sosma will be abolished,” he said.