Customs deputy director-general Ribuan Abdullah (middle) and his men with some of the seized drugs
NILAI: The Customs Department has seized 105kg of methamphetamine worth some RM3.3mil in an operation in Shah Alam.
Its deputy director-general (enforcement and compliance) Ribuan Abdullah said the drugs, enough for 525,000 shots, were concealed in five boxes kept in a logistics company godown.
He said a Customs team found the drugs during a routine inspection at around 4pm on Oct 15.
"My men decided to check the boxes, declared as containing refined Chinese herbal tea, as they did not bear the sender's details.
"They found the boxes to contain a crystalline substance believed to be methamphetamine," he told reporters at the Customs (Narcotics) headquarters in Kg Jijan near here on Tuesday (Oct 29).
Ribuan said preliminary investigations revealed that the drugs were to be sent to Sabah by air.
"We found the details of the recipient in Keningau, Sabah to be false as well," he said.
Ribuan said the drugs could have also been meant for distribution in Indonesia where methamphetamine sells for four times its price in Malaysia.
He said the drugs were believed to have been smuggled into Malaysia from the Golden Triangle via the north of the peninsula.
The Golden Triangle, which generally covers the border areas of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, is believed to be the largest methamphetamine-producing area in the world.
Asked if Customs has made any arrests following the seizure, Ribuan said there had been none to date.
However, the department has taken the godown's CCTV recordings to help in its probe.
"A man wearing a mask brought the drugs to the godown to be sent to Sabah," Ribuan added.
He said the case was being investigated under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the death penalty, or life imprisonment with whipping, upon conviction.
