Bid to smuggle heroin inside frozen durians foiled
PETALING JAYA: An attempt to smuggle out heroin hidden among frozen durians was foiled by the quick action of Customs enforcement officers at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, on Monday.
The heroin weighing a total of 6.13kg had a street value of RM953,529, said Royal Malaysian Customs Department’s Central Zone assistant director-general Datuk Zulkarnain Mohamed Yusuf.
He said the department received a tip-off of the possible smuggling modus operandi involving the drugs. The department’s investigation unit from the central zone conducted a raid at a cargo company at 6.15pm, the same day.
“Several Customs officers, in the presence of cargo agents, as well as the cargo company’s representatives, conducted a check on 20 styrofoam boxes which were designated to be shipped to Hong Kong.
“Checks on the boxes found them to contain packed frozen durians.
“Upon opening, four of them were found to contain four solid blocks suspected to be heroin, which were wrapped with translucent plastic packaging.
“Following the discovery (of the drugs), we detained a 34-yearold woman whose name was on the shipping manifest,” he said yesterday.
Checks of other styrofoam boxes via a drug detection equipment saw the Customs officers seizing a total of 178 white blocks, all weighing 6.13kg, worth RM953,529, said Zulkarnain.
“The syndicate was seeking to dupe the authorities by making a false declaration that items to be exported to Hong Kong were identified as fresh durians.
“The woman has been remanded for five days for further investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.”
Under the act, those in possession of 15g or more of heroin face the mandatory death sentence.