NILAI: Customs officers foiled an attempt by smugglers to traffic in 130kg of ketamine worth RM10 million when they seized a container in Port Klang, Selangor, at 2.30pm on Monday.

The container, which was packed with sacks of groundnuts, was seized by officers from Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, and Putrajaya Customs Departments.

Customs director-general Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid said the seized drugs were believed to have been brought in from India and were hidden in 300 sacks with the groundnuts.

"The drugs were exported by a shipping company with a fake address in Mumbai, and were meant for the local market. The value of the drugs is estimated to be between RM5 million and RM10 million.

"This is the biggest seizure by the department so far," he said at the Customs Department Anti-Narcotics headquarters here yesterday.
Abdul Rahman said customs officers also arrested two men, in their 20s and 30s, believed to be members of the drug smuggling syndicate.

He said one of the men was working as a manager in a shipping company in Port Klang.

The other was with a trading company in Subang Jaya, believed to be the importer of the groundnuts.

"The Indian Customs Department had helped to confirm that the exporters in India did not exist.

"However, the importers here denied bringing in the consignment."

Abdul Rahman said that to date, the department had foiled 13 cases of drug smuggling, equalling last year's total.