Penang cops bust drug lab, detain man with drugs worth RM125,000
TOWN: Police here busted a heroin processing laboratory after detaining a man and seizing various types of drugs worth RM125,000 in a raid here on Feb 17.
Penang deputy police chief Datuk Mohamed Usof Jan Mohamad said his team detained a 49-year-old man at an apartment car park in Tanjung Tokong here at 7am.
“An inspection of the man’s motorcycle found 34 packets of heroin weighing 820g, and 20 packets of syabu weighing 570g, before raiding his rented house and seizing three packets of heroin weighing 260g, two packets of syabu weighing 30g, and a box containing three plastic bags of caffeine,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
“In the same premises, we found equipment, hardware as well as chemicals believed to be used to process drugs before selling them to regular customers.”
Mohamed Usof said based on investigations, the man used his rented house as a heroin processing laboratory and packaging centre.
He said police also inspected another motorcycle belonging to the man and found 25 packets of heroin in a box attached to the back of the machine, as well as 36 packets of heroin in the storage area.
“The drugs confiscated in the raid are worth RM125,000. Based on the investigation, the man had just been released from prison for a drug offence, and he admitted to learning how to process and package drugs from an inmate,” he said.
Mohamed Usuf said the man had been operating on his own, and had been renting the apartment for RM1,300 a month since September last year immediately after his release from prison.
The suspect, who has three previous drug-related records, has been remanded for seven days to assist investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.