KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Police arrested six men, including a drug mule, under Op Tebuan for suspected involvement in an international drug smuggling syndicate, with the seizure of various types of drugs worth RM18.16 million.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said police arrested all the suspects, including a foreigner, aged between 34 and 58, in seven raids in Perak, Selangor and Kedah between Sept 1 and Oct 4.
He said the first arrest was made in front of the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport in Ipoh, Perak, on Sept 1, involving a foreign national, along with 50 transparent packages containing compressed cannabis buds weighing 26.2 kilogrammes (kg).
"This man was scheduled to transport the drugs from the Ipoh Airport to London via Singapore,” he told a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters here today.
Following that, Hussein said police arrested six more suspects in six raids in Selangor and Kedah between Sept 30 and Oct 4 and seized 210kg of methamphetamine and 69kg of cannabis buds.
"The syndicate gets its drug supplies from a neighbouring country north of Peninsular Malaysia before distributing the drugs in the Klang Valley for the local market, as well as handing them over to drug mules for smuggling out of the country via air routes,” he added.
He said the syndicate, which has been active since July, was believed to have paid drug mules between RM5,000 and RM20,000.
Hussein said the first suspect was charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 on Sept 8, while the remaining six were charged under the same provision on Oct 8.
In a separate case, five foreign nationals were arrested under Op Plecoptera on suspicion of smuggling RM1.92 million worth of drugs from India into the country
He said police arrested the suspects, aged between 21 and 43, in four separate raids in the Klang Valley on Sept 20, and seized 38kg of ketamine and 0.038kg of cannabis buds.
He said the drugs were brought in from Chennai, India, to Malaysia, and the suspect managed to clear security checks at the airport in Chennai and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
In another case, Hussein said police arrested three men under Op Tongkol on suspicion of using a shopping mall parking area as a handover point for drugs worth RM5.6 million.
-- BERNAMA