GEORGE TOWN: Police believed they have crippled a drug processing syndicate here following the arrest of five people, including a married couple, as well as seizure of various drugs worth RM355,710.
State police chief Datuk T. Narenasagaran said the Seberang Perai Utara Narcotics Investigation Department got their break after a raid in house in Kepala Batas on Wednesday at 5pm where they arrested four men and a woman, aged between 22 and 49.
“In the raid, we seized 1,540 grams of suspected heroin-base drugs worth RM143,000, 13,544 grams of drugs believed to be heroin worth RM180,710, 43,000 grams of caffeine powder worth RM24,000 and 400 Erimin 5 pills as well as heroin-processing paraphernalia.
“We also seized 74 pieces of live 9mm bullets, 15 pieces of .38spl live bullets and 32 pieces of 7.56mm live bullets,” he said at the state police headquarters here today.
Narenasagaran said the team also seized two cars, two motorcycles, RM3,912 in cash and froze a bank account containing RM3,580.81.
He said the total value of the seized assets stood at RM57,992.81.
“We have remanded the five suspects under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedures Act for further investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 8(a) of the Firearms Act 1960.
“The remand is for seven days until Dec 11,” he said.
When asked, Narenasagaran said that the syndicate was believed to have been operating since 2018, in a house rented by the married couple.
“They have been renting the house since 2017 but we believe they began their operations last year distributing the drugs to the local market.
“The amount of drugs seized could have been used by nearly 85,000 addicts,” he said.