GEORGE TOWN: A man, believed to be high on drugs, was detained by police this morning after he ran amok with two sharp weapons in his hands in an incident at the Jalan Bukit Gambir main road here.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, Video footage of the incident has since gone viral on social media.
Northeast police chief Assistant Commissioner Soffian Santong said, about 11pm yesterday, police were alerted by the public to a man causing disturbances in Jalan Ketitir in Sungai Dua here armed with sharp objects.
He said, acting on the complaint, police, together with firefighters, had gone to the scene and found the unidentified man holding two sharp objects in his hands.
"When police tried to arrest him, he ran into the recreational forest reserve in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) here.
"We tried to look for him but the search was called off about 2am today as it was very dark and the situation was risky to the team," he said tonight.
Soffian said, about 10am today, the search resumed and police went into the recreational forest reserve using a four-wheel drive.
"After 10 minutes of search, we managed to track down the suspect in the plantation cabin belonging to USM. We warned the suspect to surrender but he refused and acted aggressively.
"He ran towards the main road of Jalan Bukit Gambir and tried to scare the motorists and the nearby residents.
"We continued to pursue the suspect and managed to nab him at about 11.40am. We also managed to seize two sickles from him," he added.
He said initial checks found that the 53-year-old suspect had a criminal record of 10 criminal and drug related offences.
"His urine test also came back positive for heroin. Investigations are underway to ascertain the motive behind the suspect's actions," he said, adding that the man would be referred for psychiatric evaluation.
He added that no one was injured in the incident and no public or private property was damaged. The man will be produced for remand tomorrow.
The case is being probed under Section 6(1) of the Corrosive, Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.