Two Customs officers held

SEREMBAN: Police have detained five men, including two Customs officers, allegedly involved in a heist where boxes of drugs worth RM30.4 million were stolen from the Customs Department’s Narcotics Unit in Kampung Jijan here.

Customs director-general Datuk Seri T. Subromaniam said the Customs officers were arrested along with two security guards on duty at the unit and a civilian.

He said the suspects were detained after a report was lodged by the department following the 3am heist on Sunday.

“The suspects broke into a container that had just been seized in a raid at Port Klang recently.

“The container had been kept at the unit for further investigations. The suspects escaped with seven boxes containing about 50kg of heroin and Ketamine, which were kept in the container.”

He said those detained had been remanded for six days from yesterday.

He said internal investigations were ongoing to determine whether the heist was an inside job involving Customs officers.

“We have increased patrols, and placed the Customs Operational Battle Force Response Assault team as part of measures to tighten security at the unit and all Customs offices nationwide.”

It was reported that 10 men pulled off a heist by beating up two guards and escaping with the drugs in the robbery.

The masked robbers entered the Customs lot in two four-wheel drive vehicles and a car at 3am before beating up the guards with sticks and tying them up.

“One of the robbers told the guards that they were there to ‘recover goods taken from them’,” Subromaniam said.

The robbers took 15 minutes to carry out the heist and left the two guards, both in their 50s, tied up.

The two men freed themselves about 5am and alerted their employer.

They lodged a report at the Nilai police headquarters at 8am.

The heist is believed to be the first of its kind at a Customs office.