ALOR STAR: Police smashed a major drug trafficking syndicate in Kedah with the arrest of a padi farmer, leading to the seizure of over 7kg of heroin and methamphetamine.
Kedah deputy police chief Datuk Mohd Rozee Shaari said the syndicate's activities were uncovered by the Kota Setar Police Narcotics Investigations Division after arresting a 22-year-old drug pusher in Mergong on Wednesday, which led to the arrest of the padi farmer and his wife.
"The first suspect was detained at the Mergong Flats parking area about noon after the team seized eight packets of suspected heroin weighing 56.23g inside his sling bag," he told a press conference at the state police headquarters today.
Present was Kedah Narcotic Investigations Department chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Taufik Maidin.
Rozee said in a follow up operation five hours later, police nabbed the 40-year-old padi farmer and his wife, aged 37, who were travelling in a Mitsubishi Triton at Simpang Empat here.
He said the raiding team then seized 338.49g of heroin in a waist pouch belonging to the farmer, who hailed from Kelantan.
"Upon questioning, the couple then led the team to a house in Kampung Radek, Sik district some two hours later.
"The team seized a sling bag containing nine packets of suspected methamphetamine weighing 5.5kg and five packets of suspected heroin weighing 1.596 kg in one of the rooms," he said.
Rozee added that the estimated street value for the drugs seized was RM224,852 which could cover the supply for some 62,000 addicts.
The padi farmer and the drug pusher were also tested positive for methamphetamine.
"The farmer, who was the mastermind behind this syndicate has six previous drug-related records while the drug pusher has one previous record," he said, adding police believe the gang had been active for the past six months.
In a related development, Rozee said Kedah police arrested over 1,000 drug addicts and pushers in the state in the first 23 days of this month.
"Of the total, 758 of them are addicts while the remaining 248 are drug pushers, with 101 of them being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952," he said.
Rozee said the arrests were part of Kedah police's ongoing crackdown on drug trafficking, distribution and abuse in the state.
"We are going down hard on drug pushers and addicts, to score a drastic drop in drug trafficking, distribution and abuse in Kedah," he said.