Massive haul: Comm Muhammad (centre) showing the seized drugs during a press conference at the Kangar district police headquarters. — Bernama
KANGAR: Police have seized 409kg of cannabis, worth almost RM1.3mil, abandoned by smugglers in a fibre-glass boat during a raid at the river estuary in Kuala Sungai Baru, Simpang Empat.
Perlis police chief Comm Datuk Muhammad Abdul Halim said the drugs worth RM1,297,900 were seized in Kuala Perlis on Tuesday following a tip-off regarding a suspicious boat lacking a registration number.
The incident occurred at 2pm, with authorities suspecting that the vessel was involved in drug trafficking as smugglers from a neighbouring country increasingly use maritime routes for their operations.
“A combined task force of the Kuala Perlis police station, the Kedah/Perlis Marine Intelligence Unit, the Narcotics Crime Investigation Division of the Kangar district and officers from Simpang Empat police station conducted surveillance.
“They lay in hiding for two hours in the vicinity of the unnumbered boat.
“When no one approached the solitary boat, the task force closed in to inspect the boat, which revealed many boxes containing compressed dried leaves suspected to be cannabis.
“The boat was then taken back to the Kuala Perlis police station for further action,” he said at the Kangar district police headquarters yesterday, Bernama reported.
Comm Muhammad added that a thorough examination of the boat uncovered 24 boxes containing 409 compressed blocks of cannabis, each block weighing 1kg.
The case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
