Police smash a drug syndicate using an abandoned factory as a lab, seizing RM136.27 million in drugs and assets in Cheras.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (JSJN) has busted a drug processing syndicate that used an abandoned factory as a laboratory.
Its director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said in Ops Horitus conducted on June 20, seven individuals were arrested and drugs and assets worth RM136.27 million were seized.
He said the suspects, comprising six local men and a female Chinese national aged 22 to 55, were detained in three raids around Cheras.
“In the first raid at a house in Taman Cheras Utama, police arrested five suspects and seized 26.40 kilogrammes (kg) of suspected methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) powder and 75.41 kg of ecstasy pills,” he told a press conference here today.
He said a second raid at Pudu Impian IV led to the arrest of two more suspects and the seizure of a packet of suspected ketamine weighing five grammes from a parked Toyota Alphard.
He said interrogation of the suspects led police to a third raid at an abandoned industrial premises in Cheras Baharu, which was used to store and process drugs.
“At the premises, police seized 95.80 kg of ecstasy pills, 48.42 kg of MDMA powder and 760 litres of MDMA liquid,” he said.
The total drug seizure from all three raids was valued at RM135.63 million.
Hussein said the syndicate had been active since November, sourcing precursor chemicals to process drugs before distributing them in the local market.
He said urine tests showed all suspects were positive for drugs, while three had prior criminal records related to drugs and other offences.
All suspects have been remanded, with the case investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and authorities moving to seize assets linked to the syndicate under the Dangerous Drugs (Forfeiture of Property) Act 1988.
