Major bust: Khaw showing the seized packets of purported tea at Penang police contingent headquarters in George Town. — Bernama
GEORGE TOWN: Police arrested a wireman, who acted as a transporter, and seized syabu worth about RM5.2mil under Ops Tapis in Bandar Cassia, Batu Kawan, near here.
Penang police chief Datuk Khaw Kok Chin said the 34-year-old man was nabbed at 12.50pm on Tuesday following a public tip-off and intelligence carried out by a team from the Seberang Perai Selatan Narcotics Crime Investigation Division.
“Police received information about drug distribution activities in the Bandar Cassia area before conducting an observation of a business premises. They found a Honda HRV vehicle left unattended in suspicious circumstances in a parking lot.
“While monitoring the situation, police saw a Perodua Bezza car, driven by the wireman, approaching the parking lot before transferring several sacks from the Honda HRV into his car,” he told a press conference yesterday, Bernama reported.
He said police then raided the two vehicles. The man tried to flee but was detained.
Khaw said upon inspecting the two vehicles, police found six sacks containing 150 plastic packets of Chinese tea believed to contain syabu weighing 157.185kg, worth RM5.187mil.
He said preliminary investigations found that members of a drug trafficking syndicate had brought the syabu in from Thailand by road to the Bandar Cassia area using the rented Honda HRV.
“The wireman driving the Perodua Bezza, which was also rented, had come from the Klang Valley to collect the syabu.
“The suspect is believed to have carried out such activities several times and was paid up to RM5,000 each time he travelled to Penang to collect the drugs.
“Police are trying to trace the drug syndicate’s network,” said Khaw.
He said police also confiscated both cars, adding that the seized drugs were enough to feed the habit of some 926,000 addicts.
