Kuala Lumpur - More than 60 Malaysian police officers of all ranks have been demoted, fired or transferred in a nationwide clean-up after more than 1 million ringgit 
(303,000 dollars) worth of drugs were found missing from a police evidence room, officials and news reports said Tuesday.

More than 40 of the officers were from the southern Johor state, while the remaining men were from the capital Kuala Lumpur and northern Penang state police forces, a police spokesman said.

Some of the officers, including a deputy police chief, were believed to have links with drug syndicates while others were found to be complacent and shoddy in their investigations, said national police chief Musa Hassan.

"If there is evidence to charge any of them, we will do so. They have had ample warnings."

"The shake-up has been ongoing for almost two months and a task force is going around the country and identifying those who are giving us a bad name," he was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

Musa said three detectives have also been detained under the Dangerous Drugs Act for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking rings.

In August, the police force came under strong criticism after 1 million ringgit worth of methamphetamine was found to be missing from the Johor state police evidence room. (dpa)