KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s biggest drug seizure of 12 tonnes of cocaine worth RM2.4 billion last year in Penang has led to yet another massive haul, through the freezing of assets of the drug kingpin worth RM366 million.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said today that it was the biggest yet seize-and-freeze of assets on a drug dealer the country has seen.
He said the seizures, which were made under laws of the Dangerous Drug Act, included properties such as houses and a hotel worth RM198 million and company shares valued close to RM144 million according to the latest stock market prices.
Most of the properties the kingpin had acquired to launder his ill-gotten gains are in Penang. Cash, jewellery, luxury cars and funds in the kingpin’s bank accounts worth more than RM24 million were also seized.
Abdul Hamid added that the kingpin who hails from Penang has gone into hiding in a neighbouring country.
“He must have been dealing in narcotics for a long time to have acquired the hundreds of millions in assets,” he said at a press conference after an event by the narcotics crimes investigations department (NCID) at the Police Officers’ College in Cheras.
“He left the country about a month before the bust. He can come back and contest the seizures we made in court if he wants. We waited to arrest him on his return but he must have got wind that we are on his trail and never came back.
“We have close ties with our counterparts in the country where he is currently hiding. We are working closely with them to trace him and are confident of extraditing him.”
Abdul Hamid said in a follow-up operation to the case, police nabbed eight men comprising a local, five Myanmar and a China national in a bust at a warehouse at the Prai industrial estate in Penang last week where more drugs were seized.
He said police seized 4.8 kg of syabu and 114 kg of liquid meant to process the drug. He said the haul was worth about RM250,000 and the eight suspects who are aged between 33 and 51 are in custody under a remand order.
On Sept 10 last year, the NCID busted the drug syndicate after seizing the large quantity of cocaine that was mixed and hidden in 60 bags of coal at Butterworth.
The narcotics, which were from South America, were so well concealed that even drug-sniffing police canines were deceived and failed to trace it.
