PADANG BESAR: A drug trafficking couple who are allegedly part of the 'Wa Syndicate' was arrested after police found drugs buried close to their house, here.

Padang Besar district police chief, Supt Saifudin Aslin Abbas said police seized 4.17 kilogrammes (kg) of syabu and ganja worth RM84,191 and detained four suspects in three separate raids.

"A local woman was detained on August 16 following intelligence (on the syndicate) obtained by the district police headquarters Narcotics CID (NCID) with the assistance of the state NCID since July," he told reporters here, today.

"The 21-year-old woman, who is the wife of the syndicate mastermind was detained in front of a stall here.

"She handed over a plastic container containing crystals believed to be syabu weighing 52.72 grammes during an inspection at 12.15 pm," he said.

He said information obtained from the detention led to the second raid the next day (August 17) at a house here at 2.45 pm.

"The police nabbed two suspects, a 35-year-old Thai who was the mastermind and a 27-year-old local man.

"Syabu weighing 2.149 kg and ganja 1.972 kg kept in a cloth bag, were found buried near the suspects' house during an inspection," he said, adding that both were positive for methamphetamine.

In the third raid on August 20, he said the police nabbed another suspect, a 20-year-old Thai, who was positive on methamphetamine at an unnumbered house here at 9 pm.

Saifudin said police also seized a Honda Civic 1.8 worth about RM40,000.00 under the Dangerous Drugs Act (Forfeiture of Property) 1988.

He said that all the suspects were being detained and investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 15(1)(a) of the same act.

A check also found that two suspects nabbed in the second raid had drug and criminal records, he added.

-- BERNAMA