Johor police have busted two drug trafficking syndicates, namely, ‘Geng Ah Poh’ and ‘Geng Handsome’, following the arrest of 18 individuals in 15 raids carried out in four districts across the state between June 2 and 9.

Its chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said 11 of those detained in raids conducted in the city, Pasir Gudang, Kota Tinggi and Pontian were local men, together with a Singaporean man and six local women, aged 25 to 50.

He said during the raids, police seized 320.07 grams of syabu; 116.88 grams of heroin; 3.7 grams of ketamine; 310 ecstasy tablets; 103 Eramin 5 tablets and 53 Yaba tablet, all valued at RM49,781.

Police also found a 'Blow F92' toy gun with 29 bullets and seized RM8,000 worth of jewellery; 15 vehicles of various types with an estimated value of RM834,000; cash of RM71,045 and 18 local bank accounts belonging to eight individuals, believed to be funded by drug trafficking activities, totalling RM117,354.12.

The first gang busted by the police was ‘Geng Ah Poh’ with 12 members including its leader, a 43-year-old Singaporean man, he told a press conference here today.

Ayob Khan said the ‘Geng Handsome’, on the other hand, was led by a 44-year-old local man and five other suspects, including the leader’s wife.

He said the syndicate was believed to be active in drug trafficking since 2002 and the leader had been arrested six times with the last time was in 2017, and used a lighting business premises in Johor Bahru to camouflage the drug trafficking activities.

Those detained were also found to have various previous records related to drugs and crime, and 16 of them were tested positive for methamphetamine.

All suspects were remanded for seven days to assist investigations under Section 39B, Section 15 (1) (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 8 of the Firearms Act 1960, he said.

He said from January 1 to June 13, the state Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) had detained 7,739 individuals for various drug offences and a total of 866.65 kg of drugs worth RM17.47 million and assets worth RM7.73 million were also seized.

-- BERNAMA