SHAH ALAM, Aug 20 — Police believe they have smashed another syndicate from smuggling drugs abroad after arresting eight carriers suspected to be “mules” at Terminal 2 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (klia2) last week.

Selangor police chief Commissioner Datuk Pahlawan Mazlan Mansor said police seized 76 packets of syabu worth RM675,994 from the suspects on August 11 and 15.

“The suspects who were in possession of 13.52kg of syabu were detained as they were screened at the airport security checkpoints and while waiting for their flight.

“During our search, we found the drug packages strapped to different parts of the suspects' body and stashed inside their baggages,” he said in a news conference today.

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Following the initial arrest, police raided the syndicate's “service centre” at a budget hotel in Petaling Jaya where preparations and planning were made to smuggle the drugs.

Mazlan said the syndicate would usually strap the drug onto the suspects' legs and hid inside shoes worn by the suspects' to confuse authorities.

“The syndicate would then advertise on social media by offering free holiday trips to victims whereby allowance are also provided throughout their stay with the condition that victim only needed to deliver 'gifts' overseas.

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“Should they accept the offer, they would be invited into groups in WeChat and our investigation also revealed the suspects' were aware of the drugs being smuggled,” he said.

Initial investigations showed the suspects aged between 18 and 53 were headed to South Korea, with payments ranging between RM3,000 and RM9,000 for each successful return trip.

“Our investigation does not stop here and we are still tracking down the remaining syndicate members including their network in Klang,” he said.

Mazlan also said gang members were posing as security guards or sub-contractors of security companies for their drug activities.

This follows after police picked up four local suspects aged between 21 and 41 believed to be members of Gang 21 in Klang Utara last Tuesday.

Investigation revealed three of the suspects were security guards and one was a site supervisor for security.

“We also worried that these unregistered individuals getting hired for 'protection' in an area to exert gang territory control,” he said.