Chinese tea turns out to be drugs
Ketamine worth RM127mil in Taiwan market seized in KLIA’s cargo hub
SEPANG: It was destined for Taipei as garments and high-grade Chinese tea packets but the authorities were not taken in by the ruse.
Inspections at the KLIA cargo hub here revealed something much more harmful – 254kg of ketamine worth a whopping RM12.7 mil.
It was hidden in six boxes, each declared as 248 packets of Chinese tea.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigations Department (NCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said the market value of the drugs in Taiwan was about RM127mil, about 10 times more than in Malaysia.
“We believe syndicate members were using KLIA as a transit point.
“The drugs can cater to some 850,000 addicts,” he told a press conference at the KLIA police district headquarters yesterday.
The seizure was touted as the biggest drug haul at the cargo hub this year.
It was also a huge success by the police there following the official launching of the new district last week.
Comm Mohmad said the drugs were seized during an operation with the Special Tactical Intelligence Group on the airside area of KLIA2 at about 5.30pm on Thursday.
Initial investigations showed the syndicate had also tried to pass off the drugs as garments.
“We managed to uncover the ruse with the cooperation of Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB).
“This bust is a follow-up to last month’s seizure of 30.5kg of heroin in Taiwan.
“We believe both seizures are connected as the address of both sender and receiver is the same,” he said, adding that the sender was from the Klang Valley.
Comm Mohmad said investiga- tions also showed that the syndicate was active for about a year.
He said since 2012, they had mounted five big operations with the cooperation of MJIB.
“It resulted in 73 arrests, including 19 foreigners, along with seizures of 1,205kg of drugs and more than four million pills worth RM103mil,” he said.
Besides MJIB, NCID have similar cooperation with other international drug enforcement agencies, including the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Also present at the press conference were KLIA OCPD Asst Comm Zulkifli Adamsah and Bukit Aman NCID deputy director Deputy Comm Datuk Kang Chez Chiang.