GEORGE TOWN: By day, they were electrical technicians. But for the past six months, the two cousins had been living a life of luxury, thanks to their lucrative side job as drug traffickers.
However, their good fortune ended abruptly last Thursday when police caught them in possession of 52kg of ganja valued at RM163,000 in the market.
The substantial quantity of cannabis had the potential to satisfy the cravings of 105,192 users.
George Town OCPD Asst Comm Razlam Ab Hamid said the duo, aged 18 and 28, were picked up by a team from the state Narcotic Crime Investigation Department at 8.38pm at a parking lot in Jalan Perak last Thursday.
“They were loading a box with Siamese words into a vehicle which contained 20 compressed blocks of leaves wrapped individually in transparent plastic which we believe were ganja.
“The 21kg drugs are worth RM65,227 in the market.
“Further checks on a four-wheel drive at the same location led to the discovery of two more brown boxes, which contained 30 more identical compressed blocks of leaves said to be ganja.
“The 31.5kg cannabis is worth RM97,820 in the market,” he said during a press conference at the George Town district police headquarters yesterday.
ACP Razlam said initial investigation showed that the cousins, who were only “active” in March this year, had just received the drugs from their supplier.
“The drugs are for local distribution. They were brought in from a neighbouring country by road and we are still determining the source of origin.
“They had been living luxuriously ever since they got involved in this trade.
“During the raid, we also seized RM2,300 in cash,” he said, adding that the 28-year-old man worked as an electrical wiring technician for a company, while his cousin was his assistant at work.
“The younger man, with two drug-related records, tested positive for drugs. The elder man is ‘clean’,” he said.
