Syabu found in secret compartment of a shoe

They thought it was a creative way to smuggle drugs into the country, but they were not aware that the police have already saw that coming.

Efforts by two drug mules to smuggle drug were thwarted by police after they found several packets of syabu stashed in a secret compartment of a pair of leather shoes and sandals, respectively.

These secret compartments were located beneath the shoe sole. They were modified so that the drugs can fit into it.

Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the incidents happened separately at KL International Airport last Thursday and Sunday.

These two incidents saw more than RM100,000 worth of drugs were seized.

In the first incident on March 21, police arrested a Pakistani who was just arrived from Doha

“He took a direct flight from Doha and when he passing through the arrival hall, we saw him acting suspiciously. We checked on his luggage but did not find anything. However, when we asked him to hand over his shoe, we found some part of the shoe was altered,” said Noor Rashid to reporters at Bukit Aman.

Further check on the shoe found a small packet of syabu weight about 850 gram hide in the secret section.

The suspect is believed have been in this country twice since last year to smuggle drugs.

Meanwhile, in the second incident on March 24 at 9.20am, an Indonesian woman in her late 20s was seen trying to leave the airport area in a hurry and police who witnessed the behaviour of the woman then arrested her.

When they checked on her two sandals, they found two packets of syabu in a secret section inside the sole.

“We believed that syabu weight 335 gram and was trying to smuggle out from this country to Indonesia and we believed the other destination also might be China,” he said.

Further investigation later brought police to a house in Alam Damai, Cheras where they busted five men from Nigeria and Sierra Leone aged between 25 and 38.

“The suspects are private college students and they are mastermind of this syndicate. They will recruit several international and local drug mules to market and smuggle out the drug to other countries,” said Noor Rashid.

The suspects are now under remand for the investigation under Section 39B of Dangerous Drug Act 1952 which carries mandatory death penalty.