KUALA LUMPUR: Only 15 days into the new year and the nation has already seen its biggest drug bust with the crippling of a major drug syndicate and seizure of 1.5 tonnes of drugs worth RM144.9mil.
This huge amount of drugs could have fallen into the hands of 6.5 million addicts.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the syndicate operated as a drug “wholesaler”, importing the drugs and marketing them locally and overseas.
“We believe they were able to procure the drugs via courier services.
“The NCID director will meet with 116 courier companies on Thursday (today) to find a mechanism to curb this activity,” he told a press conference at the Police Training Centre here yesterday.
Nine people – seven local men and a local woman along with an Indonesian woman – were arrested in the raids conducted by the Bukit Aman Narcotic Crimes Investigation Department (NCID) at various premises in Sentul, Kepong and Selayang on Monday night, he said.
Abdul Hamid said the NCID team raided a house in Southlake Terraces Desa Park City, followed by an apartment at Residensi 1 Utara in Jalan Ipoh as well as a condominium at Westside One Desa Park City between 8pm on Monday and 1am yesterday.
“We seized an array of drugs worth RM144.9mil,” the IGP said, adding that it was the biggest drug bust so far this year.
Among the drugs seized were 309.76kg of syabu, 12.7kg of heroin base, 637.72kg of ecstasy pills, 564.83kg of erimin 5 pills and 6.5kg of cocaine, he revealed.
“These drugs could have been supplied to 6.5 million addicts,” he added.
The police also seized RM400,330 worth of the syndicate’s assets, including a Toyota Vellfire, cash in different denominations and jewellery, as well as two pistols and several 9mm bullets.
Two of the suspects detained have past drug-related criminal records, said Abdul Hamid.
All the suspects were remanded until Jan 20.
He hailed the effort of the NCID team and promised not to let up on the police campaign against drugs.
“The dedication of my men is evident with this successful bust.
“We will continue to go after the big fish in the drug market,” he said.
He reiterated that the drug menace is a clear and present danger.
“Ever since I assumed the duties of the IGP, the war on drugs has been a priority,” Abdul Bador said.
“My men at the NCID have responded well, and their efforts have resulted in billions of drugs seized and various syndicates busted.”
Meanwhile, NCID director Comm Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the syndicate had been operating for about a year.
“This wholesaler imports the drugs before distributing them to tokan (drug dealers),” he said.
“The chain of drug distribution and selling begins with them.”
The syndicate, identified as one of the main networks in the country, catered for the local and overseas markets, he said.
Last year, the police recorded large-scale drug seizures.
The biggest in the nation’s history was the 12 tonnes of cocaine worth RM2.4bil found in three containers in Penang on Sept 10.
Another massive success was when the police seized 500kg of ketamin and over 3.23 tonnes of cocaine worth over half a billion ringgit in Shah Alam on Aug 18.
