Two men arrested, drugs worth RM25.87 million seized

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang police busted a drug trafficking syndicate with the arrest two local men and seizure of 573 kilogrammes (kg) of various drugs, worth RM25.87 million, in a series of raids conducted in Nibong Tebal, near here, over a three-day period since last Monday.

Penang police chief Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan said the raids, conducted following public tip-offs and police intelligence work, led to the arrest of the first suspect in a car at Taman Perindustrian Nibong Tebal, near here.

"The 37-year-old man was in a Peugeot car which stopped in an alley between the shop premises there (Nibong Tebal Industrial Park) and a search of his car found 100 packages of syabu worth RM4.67 million.

"Investigations found that the man, who is the mastermind of the drug trafficking syndicate, was waiting for his customers there to sell the syabu, which was Chinese herbal tea packages," he told a press conference here today.

He said following the arrest of the man, the police were led to another shop premises, also in the Nibong Tebal Industrial Park area, where various types of drugs, like syabu, ecstasy powder, ecstasy pills, heroin base and ketamine, worth RM21.19 million were seized.

The shop was used to store the drugs, he added.

Sahabudin said the police then arrested the second suspect, aged 43, also in Nibong Tebal.

The seized drugs were found to have been smuggled into the country via land route fro Thailand and were on transit in Nibong Tebal before they are sent to markets in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, he said.

He said along with the drugs, the police also seized a car, cash and jewellery.

On the suspects, he said the second was an online trader, while the first suspect, an unemployed who tested positive for the drug test, had three previous records, and that they were in remand for seven days for drug trafficking.

“It is the biggest drug haul in Penang this year,” he added.

-- BERNAMA