COMMENT | Current use of the Security Measures (Special Offences) Act 2012 (Sosma) to arrest alleged drug syndicate members in Sabah sets a concerning precedent for increasingly arbitrary application of the procedural law to combat organised crime.

The difficulty to “nab syndicate leaders or masterminds” is senseless in this case when the leader of the syndicate is already apprehended.

Furthermore, with the information publicly disclosed about the syndicate’s activity, it seems the police already have adequate leads for subsequent investigations, for which the usual remand process with necessary extensions under the Criminal Procedural Code (CPC) would suffice.

It is also noteworthy that the deputy inspector-general of police had success in...