Police: RM123m worth of drugs seized so far this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have confiscated a whopping RM123.03 million worth of drugs nationwide between January and Aug 17 this year and have arrested 113,039 individuals for drug abuse in raids and crackdowns.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) deputy director DCP Datuk Kang Chez Chiang said the highest amount of drugs seized was cannabis which accounted for 960.18kg, whereas they have also seized 905.23kg of syabu, 327.39kg of heroin and 111.16kg of ketamine in the nine-month period.
Also seized were more than 2.6 million Erimin 5 pills, 814,168 Yaba pills and 116,303 Ecstasy pills.
Kang said the drugs were smuggled into the country by various means.
He added that 16,351 people were arrested for supplying drugs, 37,628 for possession, and 59,060 tested positive for drugs.
Of the total, 5,012 people who were arrested were foreigners.
Kang was speaking at a press conference at Bukit Aman today after police had thwarted a foreign run drug syndicate resulting in the arrest of several Nigerian men and a Ugandan woman in raids carried out on Monday.
The Narcotics Crime Investigation Department and its Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (Sting) had seized 25 packets of Cannabis in two bags during the operations.
"The drugs which weighed about 25.4kg and worth about RM100,000 on the market could be used by 50,000 users," he said.
Police had raided an apartment in Seri Kembangan where they arrested a 36 year old Nigerian, man who is believed to be the mastermind of the syndicate, and seized the drugs.
Following his arrest, police then raided a house in Petaling Jaya where they nabbed two other members believed to be part of the syndicate.
They were then led to Sungai Besi where five more Nigerian men and the Ugandan woman were nabbed.
The suspects are aged between 25 and 42.
Police are still investigating the role of the woman in the syndicate, who had entered the country using a social visit pass.
Kang said that most of the men had entered the country on study visas, some of which were expired.
"The modus operandi of the syndicate is they would smuggle drugs into the country for sale within their social circles, the drugs were hidden in the man's house and we believe that the drugs were sold to fellow college students," he said.