KUALA LUMPUR: Police have taken down a drug syndicate that was supplying drugs to inmates at the Simpang Renggam prison, with the arrest of five suspects on Saturday.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun today said they had been arrested during a four-hour operation by the Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) in Johor.
“Five suspects aged between 26 and 30 were detained in two separate raids and 16.4kg of heroin, 9.88kg of Syabu and 940 Ecstasy pills were seized.
“The estimated value of the drugs is close to RM1mil,“ he told a press conference at Bukit Aman police headquarters, here today.
Mohamad Fuzi said the arrests were made following investigations into a Simpang Renggam prison case which has been ongoing since 2018. He also said it was likely that the syndicate had a man inside prison helping their cause.
“We are in the midst of investigating the matter with the Prisons Department. Wardens and fresh inmates are all being interrogated,“ he said, adding that all five suspects have also been remanded until Jan 19.
In another narcotics operation raid in Perak, police stopped a lorry with almost 600kg of drugs in Taiping bound for the Penang harbour on Saturday. Police discovered 569.5kg of what is believed to be syabu in the vehicle.
“The seizure was made at a rest stop in Taiping and a local man in his 40s was arrested. Two more syndicate members were arrested on the same day in Perak.
“The value of the drugs is estimated at around RM28.47mil. All three suspects have been remanded until Jan 19,“ Mohamad Fuzi added.
Investigations are still ongoing to find the source of the drugs, and whether it was imported or manufactured locally. The drugs seized could cater around three million drug addicts.
He added that police had seized drugs worth RM394.23 million, namely syabu (4,587.19kg), ketamine (217.13kg), ecstasy pills (143.66kg), yaba pills (226.11kg) and erimin 5 pills (909.20kg) last year.
A total of 164,914 individuals were arrested, with 25,522 of them detained for drug trafficking and 76,850 people were found to be drug positive.
“This is the largest drugs seizure since the formation of NCID 22 years ago,“ he added.
