Police bust drug trafficking syndicate, seize syabu worth RM15.3m (Updated)

GEORGE TOWN: The police recorded one of its biggest narcotic seizures this year with the arrest of six suspected traffickers, including a married couple, and the confiscation of 306kg of the syabu drug worth RM15.3 million on the black market.
Success was obtained after police raided four locations in Penang and Kedah on Friday.
After an extensive round of intelligence work and surveillance, a raiding team from Bukit Aman, with assistance by its counterparts in Kedah and Penang, launched the four raids separately from 2pm until 9pm.
"We believed that we have crippled the operations of a syndicate here," said Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Division (NCID) director Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh.
In the first raid at Jelutong, the police detained two suspects, aged 28 and 37, respectively, before moving on to a house in Kuala Nerang in Kedah.
There, the raiding party arrested three more suspects between the ages of 19 until 30.
Information gathered from the raid yielded another operation at another house in Kuala Nerus, where a 30-year-old woman, who is a wife to one of those detained earlier, was also taken for questioning.
The arrests led to the discovery of a Proton Waja left abandoned at the parking area of Taman Pelangi Indah. Upon inspection, the police found 306 kg of syabu hidden inside 15 gunny sacks. The drugs were neatly packed inside 295 of fake packaging of Chinese herbal tea.
Mohamed said that police believed the shipment was bound for both the local distribution network, and to a neighbouring country.
"We hope to now identify who is the kingpin of the syndicate, and the length of time that they have been involved in peddling drugs."
The six suspects do not have any jobs except for helping out as farming hands, but initial investigations showed that they led a wealthy lifestyle because of the handsome profits for distributing the drugs.
Mohamed said three of the suspects also tested positive for drugs, while one of them has a previous conviction record.
The case was investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, where the mandatory punishment is a death sentence, said Mohamed.
The suspects have since been remanded to facilitate investigations.