Major bust: Sazali (second from left) showing the ketamine that was seized during a press conference in Sepang.
SEPANG: A shipment of pharmaceutical substances from Central Asia turned out to be ketamine worth RM1.2mil.
This was discovered by Customs officers after they scanned the package at the KLIA Mail and Courier Centre on Aug 28.
Following this, a team was deployed to the mailing address in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, which was listed on the package, but they found no such premises.
Officers then laid in wait at the centre, but no one showed up to collect the package.
Customs deputy director-general (enforcement/compliance) Datuk Sazali Mohamad said they detected the drugs after scanning the parcel at around 9.40am on Aug 28.
“Checks showed the parcel came from Central Asia and arrived in Malaysia three days earlier.
“We opened the box and found 20 aluminium foil packets containing at least 20.14kg of ketamine,” he told reporters yesterday.
Ketamine is used as an anaesthetic to induce loss of consciousness.
Some use the substance for its hallucinogenic properties.
It can also incapacitate and cause short-term memory loss.
Sazali said they sent a team to check on the receiver address listed on the parcel but found that there was no such premises.
“Our personnel were placed on standby at the centre in case someone came to claim the package,” he said, adding that they waited for several days but no one showed up.
Sazali said they were now working to identify those involved in bringing in the parcel and the intended recipients.
“We believe the drugs were meant for the local market.
“The sender must have thought that if the drugs were packed in aluminium foil packets, our scanners would not be able to detect them,” he said.
On Aug 1, Customs also seized 88kg of cocaine worth RM17.6mil at the KLIA Cargo Complex.
Four crates containing 995 glass bottles housing cocaine capsules were found together with car parts.
The syndicate used a fake name as the recipient company on the air waybill.
Investigations showed that the shipment originated in the Netherlands.
Sazali said since January this year, they have detected 74 drug cases at the KLIA, involving seizures worth RM13.39mil.
“Seventy-one of them involved parcels that were detected at the KLIA Mail and Courier Centre and the Free Commercial Zone.
“The remaining three were two drug mule cases and one at the Export Bay,” he said.
He said they seized 142.87kg of syabu worth RM5.21mil, 15.18kg of cocaine worth RM3.03mil and 29.03kg of ketamine worth RM1.74mil.
“We also seized RM1.86mil worth of methylenedioxy methamphetamine, 11.61kg of heroin worth RM1.09mil and 27.32kg of cannabis worth RM398,502,” he said.
