GEORGE TOWN: Penang police have seized drugs worth RM510,820 and arrested seven men, aged 23 to 51, in five separate raids between May 18 and May 21.
State police chief Datuk T. Narenasagaran said the drugs comprise 5.2kg syabu, 8,400 Eramin 5 pills, 444 ecstasy pills and 50.75gm of ketamine.
He said in the first raid, police detained a 51-year-old man, who was trafficking in 4.1kg syabu worth RM207,000 in his Honda CR-V, at Jelutong on Saturday morning.
Upon inspecting his car, police found a number of tea packets, containing the drugs.
"The suspect had disguised the syabu as tea packets, and claimed that he was on his way to distribute the packets to his customers.
"However, when we checked, it was filled with syabu," he told a press conference here today, adding that the man has been remanded until tomorrow to assist in investigations.
In the second case, Narenasagaran said police launched four raids between last Sunday and Tuesday at Tanjung Tokong and Jelutong areas and detained six men, aged 23 to 34.
He said police had earlier detained a man in possession of drugs, who then led the raiding party to the arrest of two more people the following day, and finally to a house where they uncovered the rest of the drugs and detained the remaining three men.
“Police seized 1.04kg syabu, 8,400 Eramine 5 pills, 444 ecstasy pills and 50.75gm ketamine with a street value of RM303,820.
“Also seized were RM16,000 cash, RM9,655 worth of jewellery, RM7,250 in a bank account and four cars worth RM104,300,” he added.
Three of the suspects have been remanded until Sunday, while the remaining three are remanded until Monday.
Narenasagaran pointed out that both syndicates were unrelated.
“We believe they have been operating their illicit business for the past two months.
"We are investigating the source of the drugs, which we believe are meant to be sold in the local market," he said.
Both cases were being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for trafficking dangerous drugs.