HEARTBREAK FOR ANOTHER FAMILY

Kota Kinabalu: An 18-month wait to hear from their daughter ended in heartbreak for a family in Kg Kulambai Dundau, close to Kota Belud.

On Sept 7, they received a call from an official, believed to be from the Malaysian Embassy in Guangzhou, China, saying their 31-year-old daughter, Fadzlinah Jamlan, had been jailed three years for smuggling drugs - making her the eighth known case of Sabahan females ending up in foreign jails for becoming drug mules.

Daily Express understands that another family on the west coast of Sabah was also devastated upon finding out that one of their daughters in her 20s had been caught smuggling heroin into Indonesia early last year and had been sentenced to 17 years in jail.

In the latest case, self-employed Jamlan Eton, 62, and his wife, Asmah binti Bidin, 53, are desperate to get in touch with their daughter as the officer informed them that they could talk to Fadzlinah once a month.

On Thursday, they called on the authorities to help them re-confirm with their counterparts in Guangzhou on the latest situation of their daughter.

"I had mixed feelings when I received the call from Guangzhou É it was like a bombshell as my wife and I were anxious to know what had happened to her.

"At the same time I felt relieved because finally there was some news about her as we had not heard from her for almost two years after we lost contact in March last year," Jamlan told the Daily Express, here.

"The Guangzhou official said that we will able to talk to her once a month beginning next month but we cannot wait that long.

The official asked three cellphone numbers to be contacted and I gave mine, Fadzlinah's eldest sister and my cousin's handphone numbers.

"If possible, we hope to talk to Fadzlinah the soonest as we have been missing her so much and anxious to know how she was lured into smuggling drugs that landed her in jail," Jamlan said.

Recalling the last call from their daughter, the second among nine children, who was in Kuala Lumpur, he said Fadzlinah was on the verge of getting a divorce from her husband and said she would be returning to Sabah for good on March 10, 2011.

He said when Fadzlinah, who has five children, did not turn up that day he tried to call her cellphone but could not be reached. Jamlan did try to contact Fadzlinah's former husband but was informed by relatives that he had remarried an Indonesian woman and was in Indonesia.

As for his five grandchildren, he found out that the parents of Fadzlinah's husband are raising them. Subsequently, Jamlan said they lodged police report in Kota Belud to seek assistance, as they could not get any information on the whereabouts of Fadzlinah.

Until now, he said, the police and some influential leaders failed to help them. So they decided to do a Google search on the Internet and a court judgment of her in Guangzhou City appeared in Chinese text.

"We translated it and discovered that my daughter was nabbed by a Customs officer at Guangzhou International Airport at about 1am on March 6, 2011 upon her arrival from Kuala Lumpur.

"She was charged in the Guangzhou City Court for smuggling substances believed to contain 49.5 per cent heroin on Aug. 3, 2011 and went for hearing on Sept. 21, 2011," he said.

Jamlan said they do not know how to get in touch with the right authorities to find more information about Fadzlinah's situation in Guangzhou prison.

In addition, he is facing financial difficulties to go to Kuala Lumpur to get more information on Fadzlinah's case. Those who wish to help Jamlan in this matter can contact his cousin, Yusof Magit at 013-8818300 (DailyExpress)