Police swoop on ‘crayon’ drug smuggling syndicate 

GEORGE TOWN – Police have busted an international drug syndicate and arrested a 25-year-old suspect who uses crayon pencils to smuggle out their stash.

The suspect compresses amphetamines such as syabu, ecstasy, and ketamine into the hollow part of the crayons and to date, three shipments have been sent overseas before police intercepted the fourth which was destined for an undisclosed country.

The three shipments, however, have yet to reach the intended receiver overseas. 

The strategy to use crayons was to escape the detection of the border customs officials at both Malaysia and its destination.

Each shipment inside a set of 48 crayon pencils could be worth up to RM30,000 for 300 grams of drugs.

Northeast district police chief Soffian Santong told a press conference that the suspect who was walking along one of the streets here was intercepted by officials from the district’s narcotics criminal investigation department (NCID) last Thursday. 

Present at the press conference were Soffian’s deputy Supt V. Saravanan and district NCID head ASP K. Harinderan.

Soffian said drugs worth RM460 were first discovered. After further interrogation of the suspect, police were brought to a house at Lebuh Sg Pinang, where more drugs were discovered besides special equipment which was used to place the drugs inside the crayons.

Up to 1,018.51g of syabu and 79.82g of ketamine were seized. The cache seized could feed the cravings of 5,250 addicts.

The suspect was remanded for six days to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952 where if guilty, could face the death penalty or life imprisonment and caning of not more than 15 strokes.

Soffian urged courier service operators to cooperate with the police in the event packages and materials that looked suspicious were found.

Meanwhile, Soffian also announced the arrest of a 36-year-old suspected trafficker, who distributed his stash within Penang.

Police seized amphetamines worth up to RM213,980 and a car from the suspect, who had a prior drug conviction case. – The Vibes, May 17, 2022