KUALA LUMPUR: Police anti-narcotics officers busted an international drug syndicate when they nabbed six people, including three Taiwanese men, in Bukit Bintang on Friday.
The 10pm operation saw 42.5 kilograms of methamphetamine worth RM3 million seized from the suspects.
Federal police Narcotics Department (NCID) director Datuk Seri Mokhtar Shariff said the success was derived from close cooperation between the federal police and Taiwan's Bureau of Justice Investigation.
He said police initiated an investigation into the syndicate after receiving intelligence shared by the Taiwanese authorities.
"After a thorough probe and surveillance, police officers from the NCID and Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (Sting) launched a series of raids in Bukit Bintang and Petaling Jaya that started about 10pm on Friday.
"First, we nabbed two men who were sitting in a Mercedes Benz at Jalan Bukit Bintang and seized a small amount of drugs from them.
"Following the arrests, the police team was led to a hotel nearby where we raided four rooms and arrested three more men and a woman.
"The raiding party found over 42kg of methamphetamine in one of the rooms," he told reporters during a press conference at the federal police headquarters, here, earlier today.
Mokhtar said initial investigations revealed that the drugs were smuggled into Malaysia from China.
He said the drugs were meant for both local distribution and export to other countries.
On another success, Mokhtar said NCID and Sting busted a drug syndicate in Selangor when they uncovered two drug labs in raids at seven locations in Klang, Shah Alam and Banting, Selangor.
He said police arrested 14 men aged between 17 and 40, and seized 13kg of heroin, 2kg heroin base, 200 grams of methamphetamine, 7.5kg methamphetamine in liquid form, and 129kg caffeine worth RM600,000, alongside drug processing tools.
Both labs were located in Klang.
Mokhtar said police investigation revealed that the drug syndicate was closely linked to a triad.
Police also seized 13 cars, two lorries, a motorcycle, as well as RM30,430 in cash and jewelleries from the syndicate.
All suspects from both cases are being remanded for five days to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.