GEORGE TOWN: Police busted a drug trafficking syndicate and heroin-processing laboratory following the arrest of four men and the seizure of various prohibited items worth RM1.87 million in a series of raids in Penang.
Penang police chief Khaw Kok Chin said the state narcotics CID, together with the Bukit Aman narcotics CID, launched an operation that began at 9am on Friday and ended last night. They raided six locations in the Timur Laut and Barat Daya districts.
“In the first raid, police arrested a 27-year-old man, who is the mastermind, by the roadside in the Tanjung Tokong area here at 9pm on Friday.
“We seized various types of drugs in his car, which was parked about 200 metres from him.
“Police then arrested another man in the Gelugor area at 12.20am on Saturday and two more men, aged 28 and 33, at Lebuh Sungai Pinang later at 1am.
“Following the arrest of these three men, we seized various types of heroin and syabu kept in cars parked not far from where they were detained.
“Their modus operandi is to leave the vehicles containing the drugs for the buyers to come and take them,” he told a media conference here today.
Khaw said police then raided a two-storey bungalow lot in the Teluk Kumbar area near here at 7.15pm on Saturday and discovered a heroin-processing laboratory there.
He said the syndicate was believed to have rented the premises, equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
“Police then raided two more locations yesterday.”
The syndicate was believed to have been carrying out their drug processing and trafficking activities since early this year.
“They obtained drugs from overseas and processed them at the house before selling them to local buyers, raking in hundreds of thousands of ringgit each month.
“The four men who were arrested played the role of drug distributors.
“Several other suspects, believed to have expertise in ‘cooking’ heroin, are still on the loose and we are tracking them down.”
Khaw said the syndicate had a network abroad and in several other states.
He said in the series of raids, police seized heroin weighing 23.38kg, 18.4kg heroin base, 1.507kg syabu, 94.4kg caffeine powder and various types of chemicals used for processing heroin.
Police also confiscated six cars, cash, jewellery and two motorcycles, all valued at RM191,595. The drugs seized could be used by some 1.22 million addicts, Khaw added.
“One of the suspects has a cleaning company while the other three are unemployed.
“Two of them have previous convictions for drugs and other crimes,” he said. - FMT
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