AI Analysis Reveals Drug Abuse As Root Of Most Serious Crimes - Saifuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- An artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of 1.2 million criminal case records from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has revealed that drug abuse is the main ‘gateway’ to more serious crimes in the country.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution, who disclosed the findings, said that most serious crimes committed by offenders also involved three main offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act – drug addiction under Section 15(1), possession of small quantities of drugs under Section 12(2), and repeat drug-related offences under Section 39C.

“The data shows the crime pattern in our country. Looking at a dataset of 1.2 million cases, we found that the top three offences are related to drugs. When we zoom in, we see that individuals involved in a Section 15(1) offence has the potential to commit 31 other crimes, while those under Section 12(2) are linked to 11 other crimes such as robbery, extortion, and more.

“So the conclusion is, if we want to tackle crime in Malaysia today, we must address the root cause, which is offenders’ involvement in drug-related crimes,” he told reporters after the INTAN Minister’s Conversation (IMC) session here today.

He said the findings of the AI analysis would enable stronger policies and strategies to combat drug-related crime to be developed, as they were based on data already available to the PDRM.

Saifuddin explained that if drug-related issues could be resolved, it would also help alleviate the current overcrowding in prisons, as the majority of inmates were involved in drug-related offences.

He added that the use of AI in PDRM’s crime data analysis was part of the Home Ministry’s (KDN) initiative to leverage the technology to resolve public service delivery issues.

The initiative was made possible as KDN and its agencies – including PDRM, the Immigration Department and the National Registration Department – hold a wealth of data that could be harnessed to improve existing systems.

“KDN has already sent our officers to attend AI courses at local universities such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), as well as MIMOS Berhad, to expose them and equip them with AI tools like ChatGPT, Deepseek, Gemini, and others,” he said.

-- BERNAMA