KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has suspended one of his assistants after the latter was arrested by the police for allegedly attending a drug-fuelled private party over the weekend.

Syed Saddiq, who was informed by the police of his assistant’s arrest, said he would leave it to the authorities to carry out the necessary investigations and act in accordance with the rule of law.

"I will also suspend the duties of the Youth and Sports Ministry officer that was involved while awaiting investigations to be finalised,” he said in a brief statement issued today.

This comes as Syed Saddiq’s special officer was said to have been part of a group of 17 people who were reportedly arrested for testing positive for drugs after attending a private party.

A purported preliminary investigation paper distributed online today alleged that the special officer was among 17 people, aged 22 to 55, arrested over the weekend.

Others supposedly arrested during the same raid along Jalan Puchong were identified as a Selangor state assemblyman, the home minister’s special officer and an assistant of the prime minister’s political secretary.

A source claimed that a student from Unitar University in Kelana Jaya, an Indonesian woman and an officer from of the Subang Golf Course council were also among those nabbed.

Bukit Aman’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd declined to confirm the rumours, deferring to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador and directed requests for confirmation to the latter.

The assemblyman named in the purported report has denied that he was the lawmaker arrested, insisting that he was at home at the time of his supposed arrest.