Cops bust first ketamine lab run by underworld gang

JOHOR BARU: Federal anti-narcotics police uncovered a ketamine drug laboratory funded by a notorious local Indian underworld gang and seized 269kg of ketamine worth RM16.1 million in Ulu Tiram here yesterday.
It was the first clandestine ketamine laboratory police had ever busted in Malaysia in the operation which was led by the federal police elite anti-narcotics crack unit Special Tactics and Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING).
Sources told theSun that the police arrested 23 male suspects comprising four local men and 19 Indian nationals in the operation codenamed Ops Ivory.
Inspector-general of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who congratulated his men over the success in a Twitter message yesterday said among those held in the bust was a chemist from India.
It is learnt that federal police had made the arrests in several raids at various locations here from 4am yesterday.
Sources said a notorious local underworld gang which is among 49 gangs declared as banned by the Home Ministry in 2013 was behind the illegal laboratory and had brought in the Indian nationals who have the expertise in the production of ketamine.
Among those detained by police was the local mastermind of the syndicate.
India is among the largest producers of ketamine which is commonly used in veterinary medicine as an anaesthesia but became popular as recreational drug among junkies over the years.