Ecstasy powder looks like cocoa powder

JOHOR BAHRU: Police arrested five men in two raids on Monday (Jan 29) and uncovered a tactic of making ecstasy powder look like cocoa powder to avoid detection by the authorities.

Johor Police chief M. Kumar said the five, aged between 17 and 31, were arrested in raids on two rented premises around Iskandar Puteri between 4 am and 4.30 am.

“The syndicate used these rented houses to store and repack the drugs before distributing them to the local market, including entertainment outlets.

“This syndicate has been active since last July. They also packed the ecstasy powder into flavoured packet drinks. Various types of drugs worth over RM1.81 million were also seized,” he told a media conference at the Johor Police Headquarters here on Sunday.

He said that in the raids, police seized 23.68 kilogrammes (kg) of ecstasy powder, 997.4 grammes of ketamine, 193.5 grammes of ganja, 1,490 eramin 5 pills and 41 ecstasy pills as well as various packaging equipment and also confiscated two cars.

“The drugs can cater to 85,658 addicts. Four of the suspects also tested positive for ketamine while three were found to have drug and crime-related records,” he said, adding that all five were remanded for seven days until tomorrow to assist in investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

In a separate case, Kumar said Johor police arrested 780 individuals, including three civil servants, in a special operation statewide from Monday (Jan 29) to yesterday (Feb 3) in a bid to curb drug abuse.

“Those arrested were aged between 18 and 70. Police also seized various types of drugs weighing about 27 kg and estimated at over RM3 million,” he said, adding that the case is being investigated under sections 39C, 12(2) and 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.