Thai price slump drives ketum shift to Klang Valley
ARAU: The sharp drop in ketum prices in neighbouring Thailand from RM100 to as low as RM3 per kilogram has shifted the market towards the Klang Valley and the southern regions of Peninsular Malaysia, police said.
Perlis police chief Datuk Muhammad Abdul Halim said that while there is still demand for locally sourced ketum in Thailand, strict border controls enforced by the authorities and the General Operations Force (GOF) Northern Brigade have made smuggling the substance into the neighbouring country a far riskier undertaking.
"We have observed that the trade and demand for ketum have shifted towards the southern parts of the country, with central regions such as the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, and southern states becoming the new markets.
"Ketum leaves are reportedly being sold for RM30 to RM40 per kilogram in these areas," he told reporters after closing the state Crime Awareness Day Programme at SMK Syed Hussein yesterday.
Present were Perlis Education Director, Rose Aza Che Arifin and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) Perlis chapter chairman Noor Amin Ahmad.
Muhammad added that while ketum abuse was previously concentrated in the northern states, the market's shift to the Klang Valley and southern regions now raises the risk of the addiction spreading to those areas."
"As a result, ketum smuggling cases and arrests along the Perlis–Thailand border have fallen by up to 60 per cent, with an average of one to three cases recorded each month," he said.
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