SIBU: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has thwarted an attempt to smuggle 49.3kg of drugs worth RM2.5mil into Miri and arrested a 34-year-old man.
The drugs were contained in boxes declared as soap base, Sarawak Customs director Norizan Yahya told a press conference in Miri on Friday (July 5).
"The smugglers employed air cargo services from Kuala Lumpur to Miri, attempting to hide the prohibited items within seemingly innocent (packaging)," he said.
He added that coordinated intelligence efforts by Putrajaya Customs headquarters and the Sarawak Customs Intelligence Zone led to the smuggling attempt being intercepted at about 8pm on June 27.
"Officers from the Customs Narcotics Unit in Miri acted swiftly to apprehend the suspect, a local man, after he claimed the 24 boxes from an air cargo company," he said.
Upon inspection, each box was found to contain a hardened lump of soap base.
Further examination revealed that each lump contained two plastic packets labelled as Chinese tea.
In total, 48 packets were discovered, containing crystals of ketamine, Norizan added.
The suspect and his vehicle were seized for investigation under Section 30(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, he said.
