Customs seized drugs worth $700k at KLIA

SEPANG: The Customs Department detained three foreign nationals and seized drugs worth RM1.68 million (S$700,000) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport here this month.

The men from India, Bangladesh and Nigeria, aged between 24 and 38, were detained after thorough checks by Customs enforcement officers found ketamin and methamphetamine drugs in their possession.

KLIA Customs Department deputy director Siti Baya Berahan said the first suspect - a 38-year-old Indian national, was nabbed on Feb 1 when checks on a box he was carrying found two packets of ketamin drugs.

"When officers scanned the box, which contained kitchen appliances, they saw suspicious object hidden at its bottom.

"A thorough inspection later revealed that it contains 7.95kg ketamin worth RM143,100," she told reporters at the department's headquarters here today.

Siti Baya said they detained a 27-year-old Nigerian national about 11pm on Thursday after he tried to smuggle in more than 35 'chunks' of methamphetamine in his body.

"The suspect was behaving suspiciously, which prompted our officers to conduct thorough search and body scan on him.

"So far, 35 chunks of drugs, believed to be methamphetamine, had been seized from the suspect at Serdang Hospital," she said. The third case was on Friday after checks on a 24-year-old Bangladeshi national found that he was carrying 6.15kg methamphetamine worth RM1.5million.

The suspect was detained at 2.20am after checks revealed secret compartments, where the drugs were hidden, in two luggages he was carrying.