JOHOR BAHRU: Police have arrested seven individuals, including a married couple, and seized drugs worth more than RM10 million in three raids here.
Johor police chief M. Kumar said the suspects, consisting of five local men and two foreign women aged between 22 and 38, were arrested between 12.30 pm and 2 pm on Aug 12.
“The modus operandi of the drug syndicate, which has been actively operating since May this year, was to use gated and guarded houses as processing and packaging sites for ecstasy powder intended for the local market.
“In that operation, 59,627 grammes of ecstasy powder, 93.4 grammes of ketamine, 263 ecstasy pills, 380 erimin 5 pills, and 41 grammes of cannabis were seized, with the drug haul valued at RM10,001,122,“ he said at a press conference at the Johor police contingent headquarters today.
Police also seized various items, including four cars, a motorcycle, jewellery, and cash in both local and foreign currencies, all amounting to RM235,257.
“The total seizure, including drugs and confiscated items, is valued at RM10.23 million. This is the second-largest drug haul in Johor this year,“ he said, adding that if the drugs had reached the market, they could have been used by 199,644 addicts.
Kumar said checks revealed that three of the suspects had criminal and drug-related records, while urine tests showed that six of them were positive for methamphetamine, ketamine and benzodiazepine.
He said the remand period for all the suspects has been extended until this Thursday to assist in the investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Kumar said police are actively hunting for the syndicate mastermind.
He also said police are looking for one Lo Show Shang, 36, who resides in Taman Perling here, to help in the investigation.
Johor police have seized 3.45 tonnes of drugs worth RM52.09 million following the arrest of 16,241 suspects for various drug offences from Jan 1 until last Saturday, he said.