NEW SMUGGLING TRICK: Indian national detained
SEPANG: ALONG with dhal, green beans and dried chillies, an Indian national who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Thursday morning had also brought in 9.337kg of ketamine stuffed inside "artificial" cashew nuts to fool Customs.
The fake nuts were placed together with genuine ones in six plastic packs in his luggage.
At a press conference yesterday, KLIA Customs Department deputy director Siti Baya Berahan said the ketamine seized was worth RM373,480.
She said it was the second time the 23-year-old tourist from Chennai had entered the country. The first was on March 25.
Siti Baya said the ploy was discovered when a piece of cotton covering a hole on a fake cashew nut came off and white powder spilled out.
She said Customs detained the Indian national, aged 23, at 8.30am on Thursday.
"When his trolley bag was examined, we found six packages of food containing fake cashew nuts mixed in with genuine cashew nuts.
"On further investigation, we found white powder in the fake cashew nuts.
"We tested the powder and found it to be ketamine," she said here, yesterday.
Siti Baya said Customs also found a packet containing fake sago seeds, weighing 800g, which were believed to also contain ketamine, in the Indian national's trolley bag.
She also said KLIA Customs Department enforcement personnel had also detained a Romanian and a Nigerian on April 10 and April 16 respectively for smuggling syabu.
"The 28-year-old Romanian, who had flown in from Amsterdam, brought in 3.3kg of syabu hidden in a secret compartment in his bag."
Siti Baya said the 27-year-old Nigerian registered as a student of a private college in Kuala Lumpur since June last year, was found with 0.85kg syabu worth RM212,500, concealed in a special compartment in his laptop bag.
Siti Baya said the man was detained by Customs when his laptop bag showed a suspicious image when it was scanned on his arrival from Lagos.
"Upon investigation, Customs found a special space in the laptop.
"When opened, it contained a packet of white, crystal-like powder, which was found to be methamphetamine (syabu)."
Siti Baya said all three would be remanded for two weeks starting from the day of their arrests.
They will be investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death sentence, if found guilty.
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