BACKBENCHER Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu) raised eyebrows when he took the police to task over what he claimed was the open sale of drugs in his constituency.

Calling on the Home Ministry to tackle the issue which is a hot topic there, he said: “The answer given is that action is being taken to resolve the problem ... but it is different on the ground.

“Drugs are being sold openly in the streets and this is known,’’ he said in addressing the matter to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

Tiong also cited a case where a known local drug trafficker was arrested by police and later released because “the drugs had turned to flour”.

He also wanted to know if the district police station would be upgraded as promised and if more police personnel would be sent to Bintulu.

In reply, Nur Jazlan said it was difficult to nab drug traffickers now as they had moved away from peddling traditional drugs such as cannabis and opium.

He said the problem faced by police was with synthetic drugs which kept changing in substance.

But there was soothing news for Tiong when he was told that Bintulu would get 159 more police personnel, with the police station also to be upgraded.

Later, a focused discussion on airport security turned hilarious when MPs complained about excessive security “groping”.

Datuk Makin @ Marcus Mojigoh (BN-Putatan) protested loudly against such pat-downs, which he said were done extensively in airports in East Malaysia.

“I know safety of passengers is a priority, but I have gone through many international airports and no one has ever groped me.

“Can’t our airports have scanners instead so that we do not have to be groped in all sorts of places when going through airport security?” he said.

Datuk Dr Khairuddin Aman Razali (PAS-Kuala Nerus) agreed and called for better scanning equipment in airports so that pat-downs could be avoided.

However, Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) scoffed at the remarks and said security in airports should not be taken lightly.

“Security is no child’s play. I don’t care if I need to be patted down 10 times to ensure that all is well,’’ he said.

Resource : The Star Online