SHAH ALAM: A factory in Pakistan making cupboards for sale in Malaysia and Indonesia has been exporting more than furniture to these countries. The panels of the cupboard are not just made of fibreboards. They are packed with heroin instead.
Police here threw the door wide open on the drug syndicate when they raided a house that was used for storing the furniture. They seized four wooden cupboards and found 56kg of pure heroin worth RM8.4mil hidden inside the panels.
“We also arrested four Pakistani men, four Indonesians and three Malaysians, of them a woman,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim told reporters at the Selangor police headquarters yesterday.
He said the Narcotic Crime Investigation Department (NCID) and Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (Sting) had crippled the syndicate’s branch in Malaysia with two raids in Semenyih which began at around 1.30am on Jan 24.
The second raid, about 45 minutes later, saw two more Pakistani men being arrested with the seizure of 83g of khat leaves. The leaves are also sold as drugs.
“Those arrested were aged between 26 and 62 and have been remanded till Jan 30 to help with investigations,” said Noor Rashid.
“Investigations revealed that the syndicate members here would process the pure heroin and turn it into street heroin.”
He added that they believed the syndicate would then distribute the drugs in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Police intelligence also revealed that the heroin was packed and sealed into the furniture at the factory in Pakistan before they are shipped to Malaysia.
Noor Rashid said they had identified the remaining members of the syndicate here and would make more arrests soon.
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