Off the streets: Sazali showing some of the illicit drugs seized by the Customs Department in the three raids this month.
NILAI: The Customs Department will get another 20 sniffer dogs in June to combat the smuggling of illicit drugs, particularly via couriered parcels, says its deputy director-general (enforcement and compliance).
Datuk Sazali Mohamad said among the breeds the department will procure are Labradors and German Shepherds.
He said the canines, which will cost some RM1.9mil, will be brought in from Australia and India, among other countries.
“In the first three months of this year, we made 139 seizures involving various types of drugs weighing 843kg and worth some RM30mil.
“Drugs brought in via courier services represented 73% of all drugs seized,” he told reporters at the Customs (Narcotics) headquarters in Kampung Jijan near here yesterday.
“We currently have 20 dogs, but we need more to effectively check the smuggling of drugs into the country,” he added.
He said in the first quarter of this year, his men, among others, seized 771kg of methamphetamine worth some RM26.6mil, 6.84kg of heroin (RM595,000), 8.8kg of Ecstasy (RM586,400), 55kg of cannabis (RM282,500) and 1.6kg of ketamine (RM231,000).
The department, he said, would also get three backscatter scanners, a system currently in use in South Korea, to help his officers more effectively check the contents of parcels.
“We have to take additional measures as more products are being shipped into the country following the ecommerce boom,” he said, adding that the department has called for a tender for the backscatter scanners.
Separately, Sazali said his men seized 70kg of illicit drugs worth about RM2.4mil in three operations earlier this month.
He said in the first case, they seized two boxes that had been declared to contain hardware tools on April 7 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) cargo complex.
He said upon checking, his men found 6kg of ketamine worth some RM300,000 sealed in Chinese herbal tea packs and another 27.6kg of methamphetamine worth some RM885,000.
In another operation on April 18, they seized three packages that had been declared to contain trousers at a courier company in Subang Jaya.
Upon inspection, his men found 40.2kg of methamphetamine packed in Chinese herbal tea bags worth some RM1.3mil.
In the third operation on April 23, Customs officers seized 1.26kg of cannabis worth some RM4,000 at the KLIA cargo complex.
“The 70kg of illicit drugs could have been used by about 350,000 individuals,” he said.
Sazali said the public could call the Customs toll-free line at 1-800-88-8855 to report such cases.
He said callers’ identities would be kept confidential.
