BUKIT MERTAJAM: Penang police busted a drug processing laboratory and seized drugs worth RM11.8mil with the arrest of three men in Seberang Jaya and Sungai Petani.
Penang police chief Comm Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan said the suspects, aged between 30 and 37, were detained during a police operation conducted by the state narcotic criminal investigation department and Central Seberang Prai narcotics police on Monday (March 22).
"At about 9.30am on Monday in Taman Pauh Jaya, a car driven by a man behaved in a suspicious manner, when the police tailed it, the driver rammed the car into the police vehicle and tried to escape," he said at the Central Seberang Prai district police headquarters on Wednesday (March 24).
Comm Sahabudin said police, however, managed to nab two suspects in the car at Taman Sutera in Seberang Jaya.
Comm Sahabudin said from interrogations of the suspects, police raided a house at 1.20pm on the same day at Taman Pauh Jaya and seized an assortment of drugs, caffeine powder, chemical liquids, drug processing equipment and a tablet-processing machine.
Comm Sahabudin said the interrogations also led police in nabbing another suspect in Sungai Petani at 5.30pm on Monday.
The drugs seized were worth RM11.8mil and believed to be for local distribution, which could be used by up to 651,134 drug addicts.
Comm Sahabudin said police also confiscated six luxury cars and a high-powered motorcycle worth RM525,800.
He said police also seized jewellery worth RM1,500 and froze two bank accounts containing RM5,700.
Comm Sahabudin said police believe that the syndicate has been operating since September last year.
The case will be investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952.
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