KUALA LUMPUR: He once owned a fleet of luxury vehicles and 105 properties that included luxurious bungalows and hotels.
However, the drug lord’s wealth is now gone after the police seized a staggering RM366mil worth of assets in a special operation codenamed “Ops Eagle Diamond”.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the suspect, who is Malaysian, was behind the smuggling of RM2.4bil worth of cocaine that was seized at the North Butterworth Container Terminal in September last year.
“We believe he was overseas when the raid and seizure of the cocaine were conducted last year.
“He is still hiding in a neighbouring country but we believe we will be able to nab him,” he told a press conference after launching the Bukit Aman Narcotic Crimes Investigation Department (NCID) corporate video and official theme song yesterday.
The IGP said Malaysian police had good cooperation with the authorities in that neighbouring country.
“Our counterpart is assisting us in tracking him down,” he added.
Screencaps of the luxury cars and property belonging to the mastermind that was seized by the NCID.
Under Ops Eagle Diamond, the NCID targeted and seized assets belonging to the mastermind on Jan 16, including RM21.6mil in a bank account, RM143.5mil in shares of various companies, as well as various properties in Penang worth RM198mil.
“We believe his properties include several houses and a hotel in Penang.
“We also seized several vehicles worth a total of RM2.7mil, as well as RM51,800 worth of jewellery,” Abdul Hamid said, adding that the assets of the mastermind came up to about RM366mil.
The seizure of the assets was conducted under Sections 3 and 4 of the Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) Act, he added.
Initial investigations revealed that the mastermind was “laundering” his ill-gotten gains from drug trafficking by purchasing properties as well as shares.
Police also raided a warehouse at Prai Industrial Estate in Seberang Prai, Penang and seized RM250,000 worth of drugs, including 4.89kg of syabu and 114kg of chemicals.
“We arrested eight men, including five Myanmar nationals, believed to be part of the same syndicate responsible for the cocaine.
They have been remanded until Jan 30 pending further investigations,” Abdul Hamid said.
Investigation into the syndicate is still ongoing, he added.
“We will investigate and go after those colluding or even helping the syndicate,” he said.
“Our investigation is thorough to ensure that remnants of the syndicate are brought to justice,” Abdul Hamid added.
