Cops seek mastermind after nabbing drug syndicate members

 

Police seized five packs of heroin, weighing 2.305kg, valued at RM25,000 wrapped in POS Laju packaging. (Bernama pic)

NIBONG TEBAL: The police are on the hunt for the mastermind of a drug trafficking syndicate after arresting eight men who were its members and seizing some low-grade heroin in Penang earlier this week.

Seberang Perai Selatan police chief Lee Chong Chern said of the eight men, all aged between 19 and 50, three are security guards at a factory, two are lorry drivers, two are unemployed, and one is a car salesman.

Following information received and intelligence carried out, police arrested the security guards at a factory in Batu Kawan at 10.30pm on Tuesday, he told a press conference.

“After the arrests, police raided the factory at 12.15am on Wednesday and seized five packs of heroin, weighing 2.305kg, valued at RM25,000 wrapped in POS Laju packaging and hidden near the guardhouse,” he said.

Subsequently, the police picked up the lorry drivers, one of them in Bukit Tambun at 2.20am on Wednesday and the other in Kubang Semang at 3.20am, he said.

Lee said the police then arrested the unemployed men and the car salesman along Persiaran Gurney in George Town at 9pm on Wednesday and seized 910g of heroin valued at RM10,000 from them.

He said the police also seized three motorcycles valued at RM21,800.

Lee said the syndicate is believed to have been trafficking drugs over the past six months and that the seized heroin could have ended up in the hands of 16,075 drug addicts.

All the men tested positive for drugs and seven of them have a prior record of drug and criminal offences, he said. - FMT