GEORGE TOWN: Police have crippled a drug syndicate operating locally with the seizure of 306kg of syabu, packed in tea packets, worth RM15.3 million in a raid on Friday.
Police had earlier launched three separate raids – two in Kuala Nerang, Kedah and one in Jelutong, Penang – where the raiding team detained six syndicate members, aged 19 to 37, including a 30-year-old woman.
None of the raids at the three locations yielded the large haul of drugs.
Federal Narcotic Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said following an interrogation, police then raided a parking lot of an apartment in Jelutong here where they found 295 tea packets containing the 306kg drugs inside a car.
“Each of the tea packets was valued at about RM50,000. Usually, every packet should weigh about 1kg, but some of these weigh more than 1kg.
“The seized drugs can be sold to 1,500 drug addicts.
“We are still investigating the source of the drugs, but believe it was obtained from neighbouring countries to the north. The tea packets looked similar to the ones we have seized in previous drugs bust in the country,” he told a press conference at state police contingent headquarters here today.
A small amount of Malaysian ringgit and Thai Bhat were also seized during the operations together with the car and a Rado watch.
The woman, who was arrested, is the wife of one of those detained during the operations.
The urine test conducted on the woman and two others came back negative while the remaining three were tested positive.
Mohmad said the syndicate members were doing odd jobs on a daily basis but gave more attention to the illicit syndicate activities.
He added that a few syndicate members were still at large and police were tracking them down.
“Penang is seen as a strategic location for drug syndicates because it has access to both the water and land, making it easier for them to move from one place to another for drug trafficking.
“The drugs seized are for the local market and to also be distributed to neighbouring countries,” he added.
The six arrested have been remanded under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty.
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