LANGKAWI, Sept 3 — The Kedah and Perlis chapter of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detected the latest tactic used by drug smugglers on boats — by throwing the drugs into the waters for their accomplice in another boat to pick it up.

Kedah and Perlis MMEA director First Admiral Mohd Zawawi Abdullah said the tactic was discovered following several arrests and the seizure of 537kg of cannabis slabs worth RM1.6 million found floating at 6.7 nautical miles southeast of Chorong Island, near here on August 31.

He said the seizure was the biggest made by MMEA this year with the cooperation from the local fishing community who alerted the authorities on the floating package at 9.30am in an operation dubbed ‘Op Eagle Eye’.

"After receiving a tip-off that there will be a delivery of drugs at the location between August 30 and September 2, our team rushed to the location and found 14 large packages of cannabis slabs floating in the water,” he told a press conference here today.

Mohd Zawawi said investigations found the modus operandi of the smuggling syndicate was to throw the drugs into the waters at a designated area to be picked up by another boat and sent to the next destination.

"We believed the drugs were smuggled from a neighbouring country for distribution in Penang,” he said, adding the seizure would affect the network of the drug smuggling syndicates.

The case is being investigated under Section 39 (B) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

Meanwhile, Mohd Zawawi also said MMEA had seized 767kg of cannabis and 5kg of syabu totalling RM3.1 million, so far this year. — Bernama