NIBONG TEBAL – The police are on the hunt for the mastermind of a drug trafficking syndicate after arresting eight men who were its members and seizing a quantity of low-grade heroin in Penang last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Seberang Perai Selatan District Police chief Supt Lee Chong Chern said today three of the men, all aged between 19 and 50, are security guards at a factory, 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 10.30 pm on Tuesday, he told a press conference here.
“After the arrests, police raided the factory at 12.15 am on Wednesday and seized five packs of heroin, weighing 2,305 grams, valued at RM25,000 wrapped in Pos Laju packaging and hidden by the fence near the guardhouse,” he said.
Subsequently, the police picked up the lorry drivers, one of them in Bukit Tambun at 2.20 am on Wednesday and the other in Kubang Semang at 3.20 am, he said.
Lee said the police then arrested the unemployed men and the car salesman along Persiaran Gurney in George Town at 9 pm on Wednesday and seized 910 grams of heroin valued at RM10,000 from them.
He said the police also seized three motorcycles valued at RM21,800.
Lee said the 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
