Customs DG Datuk Zazuli Johan showing the illicit drugs believed to be cocaine at the media conference.
NILAI: The Customs Department has seized more than 300kg of illicit drugs believed to be cocaine worth some RM60mil in an operation at Port Klang.
Department director-general Datuk Zazuli Johan said the consignment was believed to have originated from a South American nation.
"We had received information from our Saudi Arabian counterparts on the case and seized a 20-foot container at the port around 9.45pm on Tuesday (June 6).
"Upon checking, we found the drugs hidden in 10 sacks inside the container," he told reporters at the Customs (Narcotics) headquarters here.
He said the cocaine seizure was the largest this year.
Zazuli said in an attempt to hoodwink the Malaysian authorities, the syndicate had declared the contents of the container as soya bean.
He said investigations revealed that the drugs were to be shipped to a South Asian nation.
Zazuli said in another unrelated operation around 8pm on the same day, his men seized 126.5kg of ketamine worth some RM7.6mil at the KLIA Cargo Complex.
"My men seized 15 boxes which had been imported from Europe and found 107 plastic packs believed to be ketamine inside.
"The syndicate had also tried to mislead the authorities by declaring the consignment as ceramic vases and pots.
"The KLIA Cargo Complex was the final destination for the consignment," he said.
Zazuli said the authorities have yet to make any arrests as the importers had used fictitious addresses here.
He said in a third operation around noon on June 4, his men seized a 20-foot container at Port Klang and found 25.3kg of drugs believed to be ketamine concealed in it.
"The contents of the container had been declared as frozen seafood.
"The modus operandi of the syndicate was to conceal the drugs in the sides of the container," he said, adding that two suspects aged in their 40s were detained to assist in the operation jointly carried out with Bukit Aman.
The drugs, which arrived from South Asia, had a street value of RM1.52mil.
All three cases are being investigated under Section 39B(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
