Bid to smuggle RM12.7m worth of ketamine foiled at KLIA

SEPANG: The KL International Airport (KLIA) Narcotics Crime Investigation Division has foiled an attempt to smuggle 254kg of ketamine worth RM12.7 million at the KLIA Cargo Complex on Thursday.

Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Mohmad Salleh said the drugs, hidden in 248 “tea” packages in six boxes, were declared as garments and were apparently being sent by plane to Taipei, Taiwan.

He said the drugs were seized in a raid jointly conducted by the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department and the Special Tactics and Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) as a result of the sharing of information with the Taiwan justice investigation bureau.

“This is the biggest drug seizure at the KLIA cargo complex this year and it’s a sweet success for the KLIA district police headquarters (IPD) that was upgraded to the 156th IPD in Malaysia recently,” he told a press conference here today.

Mohmad said besides the Taiwan agency, the department had always worked closely with various local and international drug enforcement agencies in efforts to eradicate smuggling and drug trafficking activities.

Meanwhile, Mohmad said the department was working with Taiwan to trace the mastermind behind the heroin trafficking in which 30.5kg of the drug was seized by Taiwan’s enforcement officers on Sept 27, which was brought into the country through the KLIA cargo complex.

“We are investigating with Taiwan on whether the two smuggling attempts were masterminded by the same syndicate or syndicates because the address of the sender and the recipient are the same,” he said.

Mohmad said many successes had been achieved, on both sides, after establishing the collaboration with Taiwan in 2012.

He said five major raids, involving the seizure of drugs weighing 1,205kg and more than four million pills of various types of drugs worth RM103 million, had been conducted since the collaboration.

As many as 73 individuals, 54 of them locals and the rest foreigners, were also arrested. It was believed the confiscated drugs could be used by more than 850,00 addicts, he said. -FMT