IPOH, Aug 1 — Five people from the same family were detained by police as part of three drug enforcement raids here and in Taiping over the past week.

Perak Narcotics Chief Assistant Commissioner Ravi Chandran Ramachandran said 10 people were arrested in the raids at two premises in Ipoh and one in Taiping.

Police also seized RM37,000 worth of drugs.

"The family members, which include a woman and a teenager, aged between 15 and 33 were arrested at a house in Taman Pengkalan Maju, Simpang, Taiping yesterday at around 10.30am.

"Upon investigation, police found a packet of heroin weighing 460g and five packets of methamphetamine weighing 3g,” he told reporters.

Ravi said the teenager is a secondary school student while the other four suspects were unemployed.

"Three of the suspects have previous records. All tested negative for drugs.

"We also confiscated three cars, two motorcycles, jewellery and RM60,480 in cash from the house,” he said.  

Ravi said all five family members have been remanded for seven days until Aug 7.

In Ipoh, a 37-year-old man was arrested at a house in Taman Bertuah for possessing 31 packets of heroin weighing 431.47g at around 2.30am on Tuesday.

"The suspect is unemployed and tested positive for morphine. He has previous records and have been remanded for seven days until Aug 7,” said Ravi.

Separately, a 39-year-old man was arrested at Taman Kledang Permai here for possessing 12 packets of heroin weighing 17.2g on Monday at around 11.30am.

"In the follow up investigations, three men aged between 23 and 40 were arrested at a restaurant in Taman Kledang Permai, Menglembu, here at around 12.30pm on the same day.

"The suspects led the police to a hut in Taman Rasi Jaya, Menglembu here, where they found 200 packets of heroin weighing 325g,” added Ravi.

Ravi said all four suspects were unemployed and three of them tested positive for morphine and had previous records.

All four have been remanded for seven days until Aug 6.

All three cases are being investigated under Section 39 (b) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, which carries the death penalty.

Separately, Ravi said from Jan to June this year, the department had arrested 3,728 suspects for various drug offenses.

"Of those arrested, 1,091 were drug dealers, in which 80 suspects were detained under Section Dangerous Drug (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.

"Meanwhile, 1,645 were arrested for possessing drugs,” he said.

Ravi said the value of the total drugs seized is about RM1.7 million, while the total value of the properties confiscated is around RM1.9 million.