KOTA BARU: Packaged as belacan (shrimp paste) or cosmetics, drug packages are being shipped out of Kelantan using a popular courier service company.
This new modus operandi was detected by the state Customs Department in a recent seizure in Rantau Panjang.
Department director Wan Jamal Abdul Salam Wan Long said the seizure was made in two separate operations in Rantau Panjang on Jan 10 and 4.
In the operations, he said the department seized nearly 3kg of compressed cannabis and more than 400 methamphetamine pills, all worth more than RM11,000.
However, he said no one was arrested in the operations.
"In the first operation on Jan 4, we seized 1.49kg of the cannabis and 168 of the pills from a courier service centre in Rantau Panjang.
"On Jan 10, we raided another courier service centre of the same company where we seized the rest of the cannabis and pills.
"Our investigation indicates that the drugs which will be for the consumption of 13,500 addicts, are for distribution to Klang Valley area.
'We suspect drug smugglers have used courier service companies as their latest tactics to sent the drugs out from Kelantan.
"They also used cosmetics and belacan (shrimp paste) boxes to pack the drugs to avoid detection," he told a Press conference here today.
Wan Jamal said the department believed the drugs had been smuggled to Kelantan via the Golok River.
"These smugglers also used fake names to send the items," he added.