Record $19m worth of drugs seized in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: POLICE seized RM50 million (S$19 million) worth of drugs in possibly the biggest bust in recent years. The seizures from two raids on Monday led to the arrest of five people.

The drugs, comprising 209.96kg of syabu, 40.47kg of high-grade heroine and 26.85kg of Ecstasy pills, were packed in packages labelled "Chinese herbal tea".

Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the suspects, including a woman, aged between 26 and 57, were picked up during the raids, conducted simultaneously in Cheras and Kajang on Monday night.

"Acting on a tip-off, police raided a terrace house at 8.45pm in Taman Gemilang, Cheras, where two men and a woman were detained with 90.12kg of syabu."

Speaking at Bukit Aman here yesterday, Rashid said the second raid was conducted on a house in Bandar Sungai Long, Kajang, where police detained two men and confiscated 119.8kg of syabu, heroine and Ecstasy pills.

Nine luxury cars, two laptops, jewellery and RM51,229 were seized in the raids.

Rashid said the syndicate was believed to have smuggled in the pre-packaged drugs for the local market and, possibly, the regional market.

"We believe that the drugs were smuggled in from Myanmar, but we are still investigating," he said, adding that the two houses were used to store the drugs.

The case is being investigated as drug trafficking, which carries the mandatory death sentence.

In George Town, Customs officers seized RM1.5 million worth of syabu from a boat during a pre-dawn patrol in Teluk Kumbar on Sunday.

In the 4am incident, the officers approached a boat with three men in it near Sungai Batu when the suspects sped away.

The chase ended at Pantai Batu beach, where the suspects abandoned the boat and ran into the jungle.

Officers found 7.4kg of syabu in seven packages on the boat.

The boat was towed to the Customs' marine enforcement headquarters at Weld Quay.

Penang Customs director Datuk Zulkifli Yahya said yesterday it had received a tip-off that people had been trading drugs off the coast of Sungai Batu.

He added that three officers sustained minor injuries in the chase.