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Published: Tuesday May 5, 2009 MYT 2:43:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday May 5, 2009 MYT 4:20:07 PM

Drug busts all over, millions of ringgit worth seized

By FARIK ZOLKEPLI, SHARON LING and EMBUN MAJID


PETALING JAYA: It has been a period of drug busts all across the nation, some major and some minor, following in the wake of the Pahang seizure of 900kg of syabu.

In JOHOR BARU, a drug trafficking syndicate was busted with the seizure of 108,250 Erimin 5 pills with a street value of RM1.6mil and the arrest of a 33-year-old man.

The drugs, priced at RM15 per pill, were believed to be for the domestic and regional markets.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house used as a drug storage facility in Taman Puteri Wangsa at about 3am on April 30.

Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said that the suspect has previous records for drug related offences, including a drug trafficking charge.

“The suspect was also imprisoned six months for an amended drug charge in 2004,” he told a press conference at the state police headquarters Tuesday.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar said investigations were underway to ascertain how long the syndicate has been in operation.

He also did not rule out the possibility that more arrests would be made.

In KUCHING, the Customs Department arrested a foreign national and seized 11kg of ketamine worth RM382,655 at the Kuching International Airport.

State Customs director Datuk Rusmani Abdul Sukur said the department’s enforcement officers found the drugs hidden in stainless steel milk boilers in the suspect’s luggage on Sunday following a tip-off.

“The milk boilers had secret compartments which were filled with a white crystal-like powder believed to be ketamine,” he told a press conference at Customs headquarters at Jalan Gedong Tuesday.

He said the 32-year-old suspect’s travel documents showed that he was of South Asian origin and that he boarded a flight to Malaysia from the Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi last Saturday.

After a stopover at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, he arrived at the Kuching International Airport at 7.50pm on Sunday.

Rusmani said the suspect had been detained to facilitate investigations under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

“He is liable to be charged either with possession under Section 39A which carries life imprisonment and whipping, or trafficking under Section 39B which carries the death penalty upon conviction,” he said.

In ALOR SETAR, police arrested a 45-year-old farmer and seized 27kg of a substance believed to be cannabis at Kampung Tebing Tinggi in Kupang, Baling.

Kedah police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said that the seizure was made on May 1 at about 5.15pm.

He said that acting on a tip-off, a team of narcotics policemen went to the village and found a man carrying a sack from behind some bushes to a Proton Satria car that was parked nearby.

The team apprehended the man before he reached the car. Upon seeing this, another man who was waiting inside the car drove off, DCP Syed Ismail said at a press conference Tuesday.

He said that the sack contained 27 slabs of a substance believed to be cannabis worth about RM80,000.

He said police have obtained a remand order for the man until this Friday.

He added that the man, who is from Selama in Perak, is being investigated for drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

“We have recorded the car registration number and are looking for the second man,” he said.

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