Published: Wednesday January 21, 2015 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday January 21, 2015 MYT 10:56:28 AM
RM5mil worth of syabu seized
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Customs made its biggest drug bust in three years with the seizure of almost 26kg of what is believed to be syabu worth about RM5mil from a courier company in the east coast of Tawau.
Two men, aged 54 and 56, who went to pick up their delivery from the company opposite the Tawau Airport, were arrested at about 3.45pm last Friday.
State Customs Department director Datuk Dr Janathan Kandok said its officials had detected 26 packages of suspicious goods when the items were scanned by MASkargo.
“However, we released all 26 packages and nabbed the two men when they went to the courier service counter to claim the delivery,” he said at the state Customs Department headquarters here yesterday.
Dr Janathan said they were investigating whether more packages were expected, and what the duo were doing in Tawau.
“We are also probing whether the two have accomplices here,” he said.
Big find: Sabah Customs Department director Datuk Janathan Kandok showing the seized syabu stored inside the electrical rice cooker.
The department, he said, seized almost RM10mil worth of drugs from 13 arrests in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan since 2012.
From this, 19 people, including six women, have been detained in connection with the cases.
Fourteen people have been charged under the Dangerous Drugs Act, he added.
In Bukit Mertajam, Penang police seized cannabis worth RM300,000 from a car in Kubang Semang at 8.30pm on Monday.
“We found 90 packs of the compressed drugs weighing about 90kg,” state police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Abdul Rahim Hanafi said at the Central Seberang Prai district police headquarters yesterday.
SDCP Abdul Rahim said they believed the car had been parked by the roadside for five or six days.
“In a follow-up operation, we ambushed a house in Tanah Liat, Bukit Mertajam, and arrested a 28-year-old man,” he said.
The jobless man has been remanded until Jan 27 to assist in investigations.
