GEORGE TOWN: Police have uncovered a drug processing laboratory, arrested eight men and seized drugs worth RM177,210 in special operations in Penang and Perak.
Penang police chief Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan said the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department from Bukit Aman, Penang and Perak nabbed the suspects, aged 20 to 49, when they raided 10 locations in the two states between 5 pm on Sunday and 3 pm the next day.
“In the first raid, police detained two men in front of a condominium in Batu Uban and on inspecting their rented unit, found a drug processing laboratory with drugs such as heroin, heroin base, caffeine powder and drug processing equipment. The two suspects tested positive for drugs.
“Police later raided a place in Gelugor and found heroin inside a car there,” he told a press conference here today.
Sahabudin said police then raided seven more locations in Bukit Gantang and Ipoh, Perak, as well as Air Itam and Simpang Ampat, Penang, before detaining six men who were caught for possession of various types of drugs.
He said the syndicate’s mastermind was a 38-year-old suspect arrested in Simpang Ampang, who obtained his supplies from an international syndicate before processing the drugs at the condominium.
He said the syndicate distributed the drugs to their members for markets in Kedah, Penang and Perak, and police had been conducting surveillance on them since September.
“We believe they were operating even before that (September),” he said, adding that police had seized 10.17 kilogrammes (kg) of heroin, 10.37 kg of caffeine, 0.375 kg of heroin base, 0.143 kg of methamphetamine, 620 ecstasy pills and 20 erimin 5 pills, all worth RM177,210 and can be used by over 44,000 drug addicts.
Police also confiscated seven vehicles including luxury cars worth RM369,000, cash of RM14,800, and jewellery worth RM25,530.
“All of them have past criminal records including drug-related offences, one of them works as a lorry driver delivering ice,” he said. — Bernama
