Police cripples drug syndicate, drugs worth RM5 million seized

Penang chief of police, Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said police seized 152.3 kilograms of heroin and syabu during a special ops by the Bukit Aman Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) and the Penang Narcotics Crime Investigation Department, last Thursday.

He added that police had discovered a heroin processing lab and arrested three men and a woman aged between 35 to 57-year-old at the condominium.

“During this raid STING and the Penang police narcotics team had discovered an illegal drug processing lab, seized heroin, kafein, various chemicals and drug processing instruments,” said Abdul Rahim.

He said that that the unit was equipped with CCTV and security systems to keep an eye on the authorities to avoid from being discovered.

He added, following the arrest, police had raided another residence owned by the suspect at Taman Tembaga, Jelutong and seized 48.1 kilograms of heroin and 1.99 kilograms of syabu.

Police also seized five luxurious cars owned by members of the syndicate which included Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen Beetle and Mitsubishi Attrage and a Vespa type motorcycle.

Police also confiscated cash worth over RM46,000 and seized all the cash in the suspects account worth RM373,000, bringing the total to over RM790,000.

Abdul Rahim said that preliminary investigations had found that the syndicate was active in processing and distributing drugs to north of the peninsular for the past two years.

“The trend of packing like any other food packaging or nasi kandar packing is an old trend. One package is worth RM8,000 and is ready to be distributed.

“Based on our investigation, the drugs seized can accommodate a demand of 700,000 drug addicts,” said Abdul Rahim.

Police are also on the lookout for several other syndicate members which were still at large.