NILAI, May 16 — The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) dismantled a drug distribution syndicate and seized various types of drugs, including heroin, ketamine and cannabis, weighing 145 kg and worth an estimated RM13 million, over two months.
Its assistant director-general (Enforcement), Raizam Setapa@Mustapha, said the operation was conducted in Batu Caves, Salak Selatan, Sentul, Subang Jaya, and at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Cargo.
The Customs team detected the use of moving services as one of the new modus operandi used to smuggle drugs when it inspected a mover company's warehouse in Batu Caves on April 10.
“The team seized 90 boxes of various sizes in the warehouse, and found 344 compressed blocks of suspected heroin, weighing 122.85 kg and worth RM11.5 million, inside four boxes containing modified speakers to be sent to Australia, while the remaining 86 boxes contained household items," he said during at a press conference at the JKDM Narcotics branch in Kampung Jijan today.
Raizam added that this case marks the first time the department detected a drug syndicate using mover services to send goods using containers to Port Klang.
In a separate case, on Tuesday (May 13) at about 9.45pm, a team of officers along with detection dogs (K9) from the JKDM Narcotics branch inspected three boxes of goods at a logistics company's warehouse at the KLIA Cargo.
He said they found five transparent plastic bags containing white crystal powder suspected to be methamphetamine, with an estimated weight of 5,105g and valued at RM163,360, hidden among safety boots for export abroad.
Meanwhile, on April 3, a raid at a condominium in Salak Selatan uncovered 5,000g of MDMA (methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) worth an estimated RM835,000. Following that, another raid at a condominium in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, found 6,176g of ketamine and 763g of cannabis, worth RM311,165.50.
Raizam said the modus operandi involved using air courier services to import drugs into the country, and a local male suspect was arrested and charged in court.
Meanwhile, on April 10, the team found 5,106g of suspected methamphetamine crystal powder worth RM163,392 when raiding a courier company's premises in Subang Jaya.
"The discovery of the drugs was the result of inspecting a parcel containing footwear. The syndicate's modus operandi was to hide drugs inside modified footwear for export via air courier services.
"Following that, a local male suspect was arrested and charged in court," he said, adding that all cases are being investigated under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
— Bernama
