Sarawak police are now hot on the heels of a suspect following the discovery of a cache of firearms and drug utensils recently in Balai Ringin, Serian.

State CID chief Datuk Zulkifli Hassan says, the 35-year-old suspect managed to escape before police arrived at the house in an oil palm plantation on Sept 30.

He added, the suspect was also believed to be also involved in robberies and drug abuse.

The firearms found included an air gun, a homemade pump gun and an automatic pistol as well as eight boxes of air gun bullets, and 44 other bullets, and two swords apart from some drug abuse paraphenarlia.

The case was being investigated under Section 8(a) of the Firearms Act 1960 and Section 7(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

As the suspect has been identified, Zulkifli was confident police would be apprehending him soon.

This was the second firearms seizure in the the state in eight days after police confiscated two pistols and an air gun in Bau district here on Sept 26 in which two men aged 41 and 47 years were held.