| James Kon |
THE Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) made 772 drug arrests and investigated 479 cases in 2017 under the Misuse of Drugs Act, Chapter 27.
This shows a 20.4 per cent increase in the number of arrests compared to 2016 when 641 persons were arrested. Statistics also show that 53 per cent of the total arrests were new. Drug users arrested constitute about 0.17 per cent of the total population.
The statistics on Brunei Darussalam’s drug situation was published in the ‘ASEAN Drug Monitoring Report 2017’ launched by Minister of Defence II and Chairman of the National Security Committee of Brunei Darussalam Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof at the opening ceremony of the 39th Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) yesterday.
The third publication produced by ASEAN Narcotics Cooperation Center (ASEAN-NARCO) the report is a comprehensive annual overview of the drug situation in ASEAN in 2017 as well as initiatives taken in the demand and supply reduction strategy by the ASEAN member states.
According to the report, of the total of 772 arrests last year, 642 were males and 130 females. Majority of the arrested was locals of which 63 per cent were unemployed while 35 per cent employed and 1.4 per cent students. The age group of 30-39 made up the largest group.
Methylamphetamine, or syabu, remained to be the most commonly abused drug in 2017 with 714 out of the 772 were arrested for consumption and possession of syabu. Cannabis remained the second most abused drug with a total of 35 arrests.
NCB conducted 353 nationwide land operations and 93 marine operations in 2017 including joint operation with other enforcement agencies.
Drug demand reduction strategy comprising preventive drug education, treatment and rehabilitation as well as other care efforts continue to be the key focus of NCB’s strategy to prevent drug abuse, the report said.
In 2017, NCB reached 23,536 students through school-based activities, 2,169 workers through workplace-based activities and 5,589 citizens through community-based activities.