NILAI, MALAYSIA - Customs officers arrested a Japanese woman at the KL International Airport on Friday night after they found 4.7kg of syabu with a market value of RM1.18mil in one of her bags.

The woman, a former nurse in her 30s, arrived on board an Emirates flight from Dubai and was going through Customs when she was detained. She is the first Japanese national to be arrested for such an offence in the country.

KLIA Customs director Azizah Ibrahim said her officers had been carrying out a special operation to check drug smuggling among passengers arriving from countries with many cases of drug smuggling activities.

'My officers told the woman to have her three bags scanned as a routine procedure. They opened the bottom section of one of the bags and found the syabu powder sealed in two packets,' she told reporters at the Customs Narcotics headquarters in Kg Jijan near Nilai here yesterday.

Azizah said the woman had visited Malaysia on several occasions previously with the last being on Oct 17.

'She was also on board a flight from Dubai during her last visit,' she said, adding that the woman was travelling alone. The suspect has been remanded for six days and would be charged under section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

The Customs had enhanced surveillance on people coming from India, Pakistan, Iran and from certain airports in the Middle East to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the country.

Huge haul: Azizah and deputy director (narcotics) Mohd Subri Awang showing the syabu which was sealed underneath a bag carried by the Japanese woman. PHOTO: The Star/ANN

As of yesterday, 32 foreigners have been detained for various drug related offences at the KLIA. Apart from the Japanese woman, the others were Indians (22), Iranians (six) and Pakistanis (three).

The value of the seized drugs totalled more than RM43mil.

The public can call the Customs toll-free line 1-800-88-8855 or its headquarters at (06) 791 7792/7587 if they have information on dadah smuggling activities.