NILAI, MALAYSIA: The Customs Department foiled an attempt by a syndicate to smuggle in 20kg of ketamine with a street value of RM700,000(S$291,620) inside a parcel containing women's handbags at the KL International Airport in Sepang, Selangor.

Customs officers opened the package, which had been flown in from Chennai in India, as it did not have a complete forwarding address here.

Department deputy director (narcotics) Mohd Subri Awang said the smugglers tried to hoodwink his officers by hiding the drugs in the handbags.

"There were 20 women's handbags in the parcel and each handbag contained 1kg of ketamine," he told reporters at his office in Kg Jijan near here.

The ketamine seizure was among the four successes made by the department in the space of a month.

Mohd Subri said his officers seized a total of 49.1kg of drugs in three other raids.

On Dec 20, acting on a tip-off, the prevention team from Alor Star found 3.6kg of ganja worth RM13,000 in a bag left at a parking lot at the Bukit Kayu Hitam free trade zone.

Officers seized the drugs when no one turned up to collect the bag.

On Dec 21, Customs officers seized another 42kg of ganja worth RM170,000 in a raid in Hulu Langat. However two suspects managed to escape before they could be arrested.

"The ganja was still in its compressed form. We believe that the two suspects were about to carry out a transaction when my men arrived," Mohd Subri said.

He said his officers had on Nov 24, detained a 26-year-old man from Aceh at Port Klang's passenger terminal after he was found carrying 5.5kg of ganja worth RM25,000.

"The drug was found hidden in two packages containing some Indonesian cakes. The Aceh- nese man was remanded and charged at the Klang magistrate court.

"If found guilty, the man faces the death sentence under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952," he said.