Three kilos of syabu seized
Surprise contents: Ramli (second from left) showing how the drugs were contained in the travelling bag during a press conference at the Johor Customs Department headquarters.
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JOHOR BARU: A 20-year-old German national was found to have syabu (methamphetamine) worth about RM630,000 when his bag was put through a scanner at the Senai International Airport.
The man, who had entered the country from Hong Kong on Jan 19, had apparently behaved suspiciously when he was asked by Customs officers to put his bag through the scanner.
“The officers found six handbags inside his travelling bag. They then discovered four bags wrapped in carbon paper which contained crystal chunks that were believed to be syabu weighing up to 3.308kg worth RM628,520,” Johor Customs director Datuk Ramli Johari told a press conference yesterday.
He said the suspect had flown to Johor on a domestic flight after arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Hong Kong on the same day.
“Initial investigations showed that this was his second time coming to Johor. We believe that he is part of an international drug syndicate,” he said.
Ramli said the suspect was being remanded for 14 days to assist in investigations classified under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
On another matter, he said that the department thwarted 670 smuggling cases with a trade value of RM68.3mil and unpaid duties of RM61.06mil throughout last year.
This was a decrease compared to 2012 when the department recorded 678 of such cases with a trade value of RM71.42mil and unpaid duties of RM110.39mil.
“Besides that, the department also managed to prevent 10 cases of drug smuggling into the state where seven were recorded in Senai International Airport, two using postal services and one at the Kukup jetty.”
“The department seized 43.657kg of drugs worth more than RM6.2mil,” he added.
