Father, son charged with RM23 mln drug trafficking
BALIK PULAU: Three men including a father and son were jointly charged with trafficking over a million Eramin 5 pills worth over RM23 million at the Penang International Airport.
The court was told that Muhammad Wafiy Ikhwan Rushdi, 18, Razis Md Yusoff, 34, and Rushdi Ismail, 47, allegedly trafficked in 419.152kg of nimetazapam (Eramin 5) at the MAS Cargo Complex of the Penang International Airport at around 9am on Dec 17.
The charge under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act was read to them before magistrate Nur Fadrina Zulkhairi on Friday (Dec 29). No plea was recorded. The offence is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Nur Fadrina set Feb 26 next year for case mention pending the chemist report.
It was reported on Tuesday (Dec 26) that the state Customs Department had successfully seized 12 boxes of Eramin 5 pills in one of its biggest hauls of the year.
There were a total of 1,541,000 Eramin 5 pills in the 12 boxes.
Customs deputy directorgeneral (enforcement/compliance) Datuk Zulkifli Yahya said the two pallets of drugs were flown in from Taipei City, Taiwan to Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas on Dec 14.
“Following a tip-off, we monitored the items for almost four days before we moved in to arrest two men trying to transport the items from the MAS Cargo warehouse to their agent warehouse,” he said.
Zulkifli added that the Customs Department arrested another man at the enforcement office on Tuesday (Dec 26) when he appeared to assist in the probe.
Investigations revealed that the cargo items were declared as mechanical parts in their airway bill.