Local taxi drivers courier for Nigerian drug syndicates

KUALA LUMPUR: Nigerian drug syndicates are recruiting local taxi drivers as their courier to transport drugs in through the Thailand-Malaysia border.
According to Federal Narcotics Investigations Department (NCID) deputy director DCP Datuk Mohd Dzuraidi Ibrahim, the taxi drivers are believed to be on a payroll of between RM500 and RM1000 for their services.
In a press conference at the Federal Police headquarters today, he said that on Thursday, the police, together with Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING) had, in three separate raids, arrested four individuals and seized 58 cubes amounting to 56kg of substance believed to be ganja.
"Acting on intelligence, we detained three Nigeria nationals, aged between 24 and 34, a local taxi driver, 49, and seized 56kg of ganja worth RM500,000," he told .
He revealed that the three Nigerians were picked up at their house in Sungei Way, Petaling Jaya, at around 11am, while the driver was picked up at his office in Cheras at about 12pm.
"Investigations revealed that the taxi driver had no past criminal records and tested negative for drugs.
"We also found out that two of the Nigerians possessed valid but expired travel documents," Dzuraidi added.
He revealed that the 58 cubes seized were found in a Toyota Camry parked at an apartment parking lot.
"We are still investigating who the owner of the car is as no criminal records have been found on the car," Dzuraidi said.
He said the syndicate is believed to have been active for the past six months.
Between January to Aug this year, drugs amounting to RM195.87 million have been seized with a total of 120, 239 arrests made.
Dzuraidi added that all the detainees will be investigated under Section 39(B) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
"This success is also owed to the close working relationship with our Thailand counterparts such as Police Narcotics Supression Bureau (PNSB) and Office Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and Thai police," said Mohd Dzuraidi.