ALOR STAR – Kedah police, with the help of the General Operations Force (GOF), have made one of their biggest-ever drug hauls with the seizure of more than 100kg of various types of narcotics worth RM18 million.
This comes just three days after a GOF sergeant was killed and another seriously wounded in a firefight with drug smugglers along the Malaysia-Thai border in Padang Besar, Perlis.
Kedah police chief Datuk Hasanuddin Hassan said five Thais and two local men were arrested in raids in Padang Terap and other locations near the border.
The first operation saw the arrest of two Thai nationals, both 28, whose car was stopped along Jalan Padang Sanai about 8pm on Wednesday following an intelligence tip-off.
Police found 108.59kg of what is believed to be heroin in the vehicle’s boot.
“Preliminary investigations found that the drugs were meant for the Malaysian market,” Hasanuddin told a press conference here today.
A follow-up operation was launched in Hutan Situlang, Padang Terap, on Thursday.
“During the 6am raid, a blue Mitsubishi Pajero was found in the area, and a 32-year-old local from Changlun and a 48-year-old Thai national from Yala were detained,” said Hasanuddin.
“Seized from the vehicle was cannabis weighing 7.75kg and worth RM20,000.”
In a raid at 10.30am in the same area, a 37-year-old local man from Kuala Nerang and a 36-year-old Thai from Songkhla in a white Mitsubishi Triton were detained.
“A shotgun, a 39cm parang, syabu weighing 9.3g, and 5.18g of amphetamine pills, worth about RM1,450, were seized,” said Hasanuddin.
In yet another operation at 3pm, conducted in the same location, a 28-year-old Thai national from Pattani, who was behaving suspiciously at one of the makeshift tents there, was arrested.
“The site near the makeshift tents was probably used as a transit point for smugglers to bring in narcotics and distribute it down south (in Malaysia),” said Hasanuddin. – The Vibes, November 28, 2020
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