A gross income of about RM60,000 per month.

That is believed to be the estimated proceeds from the sale of ketum water by a farmer who made his house in a village in Kuala Kedah near here as a ketum processing centre for the past three years.

His activities were uncovered when a team of police from the Kota Setar District Police Narcotics Division who conducted intelligence for the past few weeks did a raid late Saturday afternoon.

During the raid, the 44-year-old man had just finished packing ketum water which had been processed.

The representative of Astro AWANI who also participated in the operation found that the man sells about 1,000 packets of ketum water a day at a price between RM2 to RM3 per pack.

The suspect also admitted to earning more than RM2,000 every day and that the lucrative revenue made him continue the business despite knowing it was illegal.

During the raid, police also arrested a 19-year-old boy who boils the ketum water.

Acting Kota Setar District Police Chief, Superintendent Mohd Redzuan Salleh said, the location of the illegal processing centre was also equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor the presence of outsiders, especially the authorities.

He said, during the operation, policemen had to disguise themselves as buyers of ketum water before the raid was carried out.

"Police managed to seize more than 1,000 packets of ketum water that have been processed and ready for sale," he said.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 30 (3) of the Poisons Act 1952.

Meanwhile, he said, his party would conduct continuous operations from time to time, especially in the Kuala Kedah area which is categorized as a pilot area.

"This pilot area is an area with many drug-related cases including ketum, so we take the approach to restore the area," he said.