NIBONG TEBAL – Police are on the hunt for the mastermind of a drug trafficking syndicate after arresting eight of its members and seizing a quantity of low-grade heroin in Penang last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Seberang Prai Selatan district police chief Lee Chong Chern said today that three of the men, aged between 19 and 50, are security guards at a factory, while two are lorry drivers, two are unemployed, and one is a car salesman.
Following information received and intelligence carried out, police arrested the security guards at a factory in Batu Kawan at 10.30pm on Tuesday, he told a press conference here.
“After the arrests, police raided the factory at 12.15am on Wednesday and seized five packs of heroin weighing 2,305g, valued at RM25,000 wrapped in PosLaju packaging and hidden by the fence near the guardhouse,” he said.
Subsequently, police picked up the lorry drivers, one of them in Bukit Tambun at 2.20am on Wednesday and the other in Kubang Semang at 3.20am, he said.
Lee said police then arrested the unemployed men and the car salesman along Persiaran Gurney in George Town at 9pm on Wednesday and seized 910g of heroin valued at RM10,000 from them.
He said police also seized three motorcycles valued at RM21,800.
Lee said police believe the syndicate had been trafficking drugs over the past six months and that the seized heroin could have ended up in the hands of 16,075 drug addicts.
All the men tested positive for drugs and seven of them have records of drug and criminal offences, he said. – Bernama, December 30, 2022