3 Filipinos arrested in Sabah for peddling methamphetamine

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Malaysian police authorities have arrested three undocumented Filipinos following a raid on a house in Labuan town in Sabah, Malaysia, the state-run news agency Bernama reported on Tuesday.

The report did not name the arrested suspects but added that one of them was a 59-year old man, who was peddling shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride).

Quoting Supt. Adzhar Othman, Bernama said that a police narcotics team raided an unnumbered house in Kampong Saguking and arrested the elderly man, along with two other men-aged 26 and 29-on Monday evening.

Seized from the older man, Adzhar said, were 14 plastic sachets of white crystalline substance weighing more than six grams.

The seized substance could fetch up to RM1,000 (S$368.65).

The three suspects all tested positive for drug use, according to Adzhar.

All three men had been charged under Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act.

As this developed, a Sabah prison official said Filipino drug offenders make up the majority of inmates at six jails on the Malaysian state.

Sabah Prisons director Basir Mohamad said out of the 6,500 inmates being held at various prisons on the island, about 2,000 were Filipinos being held on drug charges.

"About 40 per cent of the (more than 5,000) Filipino inmates are serving sentences for drug offences," Basir was quoted as saying by the Borneo Post.

He was further quoted as saying the Sabah government was mulling the transfer of prisoners to other jails, such as those on Labuan Island.