JOHOR BAHRU: Four men were charged at the Magistrate’s Court here today with trafficking 59.5 kilogrammes of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) drugs last week.
Chu Chien Yaeh, 36, Lo Shaw Jie, 26, S. Jiveen, 39, and Pui Wei Hao, 31, nodded in understanding after the charge was read to them in Mandarin and Malay by the court interpreter before Magistrate R. Salini.
However, no plea was recorded from all the accused.
According to the charge, they are accused of jointly trafficking 59,581 grammes of MDMA drugs at Pangsapuri Residensi Puncak, Jalan Dato Abdullah Tahir, Taman Abad here at around 12.30 am on Aug 12.
The charge was framed under Section 39B (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and punishable under Section 39B (2) of the same act with the death penalty, or life imprisonment and not less than 15 strokes of the cane if convicted.
Deputy public prosecutor Nur Ameerah Allaudeen appeared for the prosecution while all the accused were unrepresented.
The court then fixed Nov 20 for mention, pending the chemistry report.
On Monday, Johor police chief CP M. Kumar said police had dismantled a drug distribution syndicate operating from rented homestays to carry out drug processing and packaging activities.
He said the police conducted three separate raids in this city and Seri Alam, leading to the arrest of seven alleged syndicate members and the seizure of drugs worth more than RM10 million.
Police are actively hunting for the syndicate mastermind, identified as Lo Show Shang, 36.
