JOHOR BARU: Police have seized over RM1mil worth of drugs from two syndicates, with one of them using social media platforms to sell the illegal substance.
In the first case, Johor deputy police chief Deputy Comm M. Kumar said eight suspects were arrested in a series of raids around Johor Baru between Sunday and Monday afternoon.
“We arrested five men and three women, one of whom is a foreigner. They are between 19 and 67 years old. Further checks found that five of them tested positive for drugs and four have previous records involving drugs and crime.
“Police also successfully seized more than RM926,000 worth of drugs, such as 10.65kg of ecstasy powder, 914g of ketamine, 118 ecstasy pills, 100 erimin 5 pills, 5.85 litres of liquid ecstasy and 8.3g of ganja,” he added.
DCP Kumar said this in a press conference held at the state police headquarters here yesterday.
He added that police had been investigating the syndicate for three months before launching the operation to nab the suspects.
“The syndicate has been active since March this year. Their modus operandi is to use social media platforms such as TikTok and WeChat to sell the drugs, as well as gated and guarded condominiums as stores and to package the drugs.
“When a customer is interested in buying drugs from them, they will instruct the customer to make a payment online, and they will leave the drugs at a location for the customer to pick up,” he said.
Besides the drugs, police also seized two cars with a value of RM38,000 and cash amounting to more than RM13,000, including S$500 (RM1,728) from the suspects.
In the second case, DCP Kumar said police arrested eight suspects, including two women, aged from 19 to 53 in a series of raids around Batu Pahat from 8am on Sunday to 6.30pm on Monday.
He added that the suspects tested positive for drugs such as methamphetamine and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), while one of them has a prior record for drugs.
“This syndicate used a rented house and a car to store the drugs before selling them in the local market,” he said, adding that police seized 16.2kg of heroin worth more than RM134,000.
He said all of the suspects were being remanded until July 2 to assist with the investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
