Police uncover drug lab, five including student held

Police have detained five people, including a Form Three student, believed to be members of a syndicate processing drugs, in a raid on a house in Penaga here, yesterday.

Acting on a tip-off and surveillance, a team from the Narcotics Unit of the Seberang Perai Utara (SPU) District Police Headquarters raided the house which was being used as a drugs laboratory at about 11.30am.

SPU District Police Chief ACP Azmi Adam said in the raid, all the suspects, aged between 15 and 42 years, were in the house including a man who arrived from Kuala Lumpur just to process the drugs.

“In the raid, police seized various types of drugs including 1,842 grammes of syabu, 710 millilitres of liquid syabu, 88 grammes of heroin, 1,634 grammes of ephedrine and two grammes of cannabis. All were valued at RM250,000.

"Police also confiscated various equipment believed to have been used to process drugs including chemicals like acetone, diethyl ether, hydrochloric acid and ethanol," he told a press conference here, Friday.

Azmi said preliminary investigations found that the syndicate processed the drugs and distributed them to its members who sold them to addicts in the state.

He said urine tests found the five suspects positive for amphetamine while one had a previous criminal record.

“Further investigations are being carried out, including tracing the syndicate members and how long they have been active in producing and distributing the drugs,” he said.