$19m drug bust in M'sa: Stash hidden in tea packets

$19m drug bust in M'sa: Stash hidden in tea packets

MALAYSIA - It is one of the biggest drug bust in Malaysia's history. Police raided two rented homes, arrested four men and a woman and seized an assortment of drugs worth about RM50 million (S$19 million).

Police also confiscated nine luxury cars, two laptops, jewellery and RM51,229 in cash.

The drugs - top-grade heroin, party pills and syabu (Ice) - were packed in high-end Chinese tea packets.

The group was planning to move out of one of the houses this Sunday after shipping the drug stash.

Police said they were hunting for the mastermind behind the syndicate and expected to make more arrests soon, The Star reported.

 

Surveillance

The simultaneous raids in Selangor's Cheras and Sungai Long, which began on Monday morning, followed more than six months of surveillance. All the suspects were locals.

Federal Narcotics Crime Inves tigation Department director Noor Rashid Ibrahim said 209kg of syabu, 40kg of heroin and 26kg of ecstasy pills were seized.

He said: "Initial investigations revealed that the houses were used as stores for the drugs. We believe the group had been operating for a while, but we started following them early this year.

"We believe the syndicate moved from place to place every two months to evade the authorities."

Police believed the group received its supply of drugs from Myanmar and smuggled them to other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

Sources told The Star that drug syndicates in Myanmar are known to produce the high-grade heroin, but they have diversified their business to produce syabu because of the demand for the drug in Malaysia and other countries in the region.

It is believed the drugs were smuggled through Thailand to Malaysia and then to other countries.


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