Drug processing lab, arrest Indonesia woman mastermind

Love's labour lost. The police have crippled a drug-processing laboratory at a terrace house here, with the arrest of an Indonesian woman who allegedly masterminded the operation.

The 21-year-old suspect, said to be knowledgable in processing drugs for sale to the addict population, was nabbed at the house when a police team raided the premises about 6pm last Wednesday.

She has been remanded until next Wednesday to facilitate investigations into local drug supply networks.

Her local lover, believed to be her accomplice in the three-week-old drug operation at the house in Taman Kristal Pondok Upeh here, was away at the time of the police raid.

In the raid, the police seized 56 grammes of syabu, psychotropic pills, an assortment of chemicals and drug paraphernalia worth a total of RM276,000.

Barat Daya police deputy chief DSP Lai Fah Hin said initial police investigations had indicated the Indonesian woman and her lover had jointly processed drugs for about three weeks, prior to her arrest.

"Based on the seized drugs and drug-related paraphernalia, the woman and her lover were believed to have processed syabu and ecstasy for distribution in the state," he told reporters here today.

On the Indonesian woman, Lai said she was a factory worker in Bayan Lepas before she became involved in the drug operations, adding that the woman's passport had expired last year.

He said the police knew the identity of the woman's 34-year-old lover and that it was a matter of time before he was nabbed.

The man had two previous criminal records, he added.