KANGAR, Aug 9 ― Seven people, including a restaurant owner suspected of being a drug trafficker, were detained in several police raids carried out between August 4 and 6 in Padang Besar and Kangar.
In the raids, police also seized 161.7kg of marijuana and 800gramme of syabu valued at RM603,920, Perlis police chief Datuk Surina Saad said.
She said in the first raid at 10am on August 4, police arrested a suspect at a house in Kangar and confiscated 161.76kg of marijuana valued at RM404,400.
“In a follow-up raid, carried out later at 12.30pm at a residential area in Kangar, police confiscated 800 grammes of syabu valued at RM980,000,” she told reporters here today.
In a raid at 11.30pm the same day, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) together with the counterparts from Bukit Aman detained three suspects linked to the syndicate but no drugs were found.
Surina also said that a fourth raid was carried out at 1.20pm in Kangar the next day and police seized 3.32kg of syabu. Police later arrested another suspect in the Padang Besar district but no drugs were seized.
According to Surina, two more suspects, including the mastermind were detained in the Padang Besar area at noon and 1.40pm on Friday.
Surina also said all the drugs were believed to have been brought in from a neighbouring country and Perlis was being used as a transit point before the drugs are distributed elsewhere.
“We believe the syndicate has been active since July and were distributing the drugs using land transportation, including their own vehicles to avoid detection by the police and they rented houses to store the drugs.
“We also believe the mastermind had been recruiting locals as runners,” he said and added that a few more suspects are expected to be picked up soon,” she said.
She said all the suspects, aged between 27 and 51 were also found to be positive for methaphetamine and had past criminal records involving drugs and crime.
A total of 10 motorcycles and three cars valued at RM389,000 were confiscated.
All the suspects have been remanded for seven days until August 13 to assist in the investigation. They are being investigated under Section 39B and Section 15(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. ― Bernama
