Drug syndicate: Police arrested 14 suspects, seized drugs worth RM44 million

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor police arrested 13 Malaysians, including three women, and a Vietnamese woman, who are believed to be members of a drug smuggling syndicate, through a series of raids in the state, leading to the seizure of 764.34 kilogrammes (kg) of drugs, worth RM44 million.

Selangor police chief Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said following the raids, conducted last Monday (July 5), the police also uncovered three stores used to keep the drugs, namely in Serdang, Ampang Jaya and Subang Jaya where syabu, weighing 444.5 kg and in 431 packages, 863 slabs of believed to be heroin base drug (319.31 kg) dan 2,000 erimin 5 pills were seized.

He said all the 14 suspects, aged between 20 and 70, tested positive for drug with six of them having previous records.

The syndicate is believed active since a year ago by using commercial vehicles, including lorries transporting fruits, to smuggle in drugs from a neighbouring countries in the northern peninsula and then kept at the store before they are distributed to the local market, he told a media conference, conducted online, today.

Arjunaidi said the police also confiscated various assets belonging to the syndicate members, worth RM447,709, including seven cars and cash in various currencies.

POLICE-DRUG 2 (LAST) SHAH ALAM

He said the suspects are in remand for seven days since last Tuesday and the police are tracking down the remaining members of the syndicate.

Meanwhile, Arjunaidi confirmed that the 26 -second video showing two police officers firing several shots in an incident in Lembah Jaya Selatan, Ampang, was related to the incident.

"It is in connection with the arrest of the suspects who were in a four -wheel drive Ford Ranger which attempted to crash into the police before it skidded and crashed into a road divider.

"The suspects then fled to a nearby river area and the police went after them, and during the chase, the police, when ordering the suspects to stop and to avoid them endangering the public, fired two shots.

"The suspects were the arrested and no one was injured," he added.

-- BERNAMA