47 SUSPECTED DRUG ADDICTS ROUNDED UP IN OPERATION

KUALA LUMPUR: Police rounded up 47 suspected drug addicts, including two
women, in efforts to clean up the city for the coming Organisation of
Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting scheduled for October.

City police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Dell Akbar Khan, who headed the
operation, said drug addicts could still be found on the streets despite
numerous operations.

"We will step up our operation to nab all the drug addicts in the city until
the OIC is over. After that, the operation will continue as part of our
annual routine project," he said.

About 76 personnel from the police, City Hall, Welfare Department, National
Registration Department and the National Narcotics Agency were involved in
the three-hour raid on Saturday night.

The 47 suspected addicts were detained near Chow Kit market, Lorong Haji
Taib and the Syed Putra area.

Some of the addicts underneath a bridge jumped into the Klang River when the
team came for them at midnight. However, a City Hall speedboat went into
action and fished them out of the water.

The suspects were taken to the Jalan Hang Tuah police lock-up (former Pudu
Prison) for medical tests.

In Petaling Jaya, Pemadam vice-president Lee Lam Thye urged local plantation
companies such as Guthrie, Golden Hope, IOI, Felda and Sime Darby to support
the National Drug Agency's plans to complement the labour force by supplying
1,500 former addicts a year.

"By taking in former addicts, employers will not only be solving their
problem of manpower shortage but will also give an opportunity to former
addicts to be employed and lead a normal life," he said in a statement.