KUALA LUMPUR: Police arrested a 23-year-old man, believed to be a drug syndicate’s middleman, for allegedly attempting to send 2.65kg of cocaine to Australia through a courier company in Jalan Chan Sow Lin on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off about a suspicious consignment labeled as spare parts, police arrested the man at his house in Puchong Jaya.
Federal Narcotics Department deputy director Datuk Kamarulzaman Mamat said the unemployed man was then brought to the courier company about 2pm where police recovered the drugs hidden inside eight car absorbers.
“The drugs seized in the raid were estimated to be worth RM529,000 as a kilogramme is about RM200,000 in the market, though it is not much used in the Malaysian market,” he told reporters at the Cheras police headquarters.
Kamarulzaman said police believe the drugs were not produced locally.
“Malaysia is most likely just a transit point used by international syndicates to avoid detection,” he added.
He said the arrest was made by Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) operatives from federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman and Narcotics Department police from Cheras.
“We believe there may be more Malaysians involved in such activities and we hope to get more information with the suspect’s cooperation. We are also trying to determine his connections,” he said, adding that the man did not have a criminal record and had tested negative for drug abuse.
Kamarulzaman said police had obtained a remand order to detain the suspect until May 29 to facilitate investigations for drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.