Kota Kinabalu: A 30-year-old man, who was recently sentenced to 30 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for drug trafficking, was on Wednesday jailed five years by the High Court here for being a member of the organised crime group “Geng Upik”.
Zulkahar Dusing changed his plea to guilty to the charge before Judge Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng midway through the trial, while the third witness was testifying.
Zulkahar admitted to committing the crime between 2021 and May 3, 2023, here.
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The court ordered Zulkahar to serve the sentence from March 1, 2024, the date he was first charged in court.
Zulkahar was on trial alongside former Tawau CID Officer Insp Rahman Burijin, 44, and General Operations Force member Sjn Jaisalfian Jaineh @ Zaini, 45, on their respective charges under the same section.
Rahman and Jaisalfian’s trial will continue until tomorrow (July 18).
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Nazran Mohd Sham, in presenting the facts of the case, informed the court that a police superintendent had lodged a police report on Nov 23, 2023 regarding intelligence on an organised crime group known as “Geng Upik,” which was involved in dangerous drug trafficking activities.
Zulkahar was arrested on March 1, 2024.
Investigations revealed by the investigating officer found that Zulkahar was identified as a member of “Geng Upik” and was directly involved in the group’s drug trafficking activities between 2021 and May 3, 2023.
Zulkahar was found to have played a role as a member of “Geng Upik” in drug trafficking activities alongside other members, to gain material benefits for the group.
The prosecution further informed the court the investigation also found that “Geng Upik” had engaged in dangerous drug trafficking in several serious offence cases: Tawau (two) and Manggatal (one).
The serious offences in Tawau include: In 2016 - an arrest under Section 39B involving an individual who had assisted “Geng Upik”, namely Syafilah Pawawoi, who was convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment; in Manggatal in 2017 involved an arrest with the seizure of 4.6kg of syabu with evidence indicating that the seized drugs were linked to “Geng Upik” and in 2020 an arrest involving the seizure of 53kg of syabu with evidence indicating that the seized drugs were linked to “Geng Upik”.
It was reported on July 10 that Zulkahar was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane by the Tawau High Court after he was found guilty of trafficking 738.6gm of syabu on May 3, 2023, in Tawau.
Zulkahar was among 15 individuals charged in connection with the present case.
Between March 18 and June 5 this year, 12 of them, including the group leader Datuk Maslan Sani, pleaded guilty.
Maslan was jailed five years 5 June 5 for being a member of “Geng Upik”.
The remaining 11 were each sentenced to three years’ jail after admitting to an alternative charge of assisting the group.
Together with DPP Nazran, were DPPs Lina Hanini Ismail, Siti Hajar Mat Radzi, and Nur Ainaa Ridzwan.
Zulkahar was represented by counsel Shahlan Jufri and Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi Md Zain.