GOMBAK: Police seized about RM14mil worth of ketamine and syabu following raids in the Klang Valley.
Five people, who included a married couple, were detained and have been remanded until Monday.
It is learnt that a drug trafficking syndicate was believed to have been smuggling the drugs from Kelantan to the Klang Valley over the past year.
Bukit Aman Narcotic Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, who disclosed this, said the total amount of drugs weighed 225kg.
He noted the syndicate had been highly evasive, utilising both official border routes and illegal passages along the east coast to transport the narcotics.
“Based on intelligence gathered, we conducted three raids on Monday and Tuesday.
“Most of the suspects were originally from the east coast,” he told a press conference at the Gombak police headquarters yesterday.
Comm Hussein said in the first raid, the police stormed a terrace house in Batu Caves where the couple were arrested.
“Inside, they found 197 plastic packages of ketamine weighing 200kg and 125kg of syabu.
“Another raid at a condominium carpark in Wangsa Maju led to arrest of a man, but no drugs were discovered.
“In a third raid at a unit in the same condominium, we detained two other men,” he said, adding that also seized were six vehicles and various jewellery worth RM300,000.
Comm Hussein said the NCID will form a special task force to cripple drug smuggling and trafficking activities that were being increasingly conducted through postal and delivery services.
The task force would be set up in cooperation with the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) and Customs Department.
He explained that the initiative is one of the department’s key strategies to combat drug smuggling from neighbouring countries through northern and east coast border areas.
Comm Hussein said control and surveillance of postal, parcel and shipment channels will be further tightened with the cooperation the relevant agencies and support of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.
He said a critical strategy would be to dismantle the financial networks of drug syndicates.
“As long as their financial streams remain intact, these syndicates will continue to operate,” he added.
