Customs seizes ‘cupboard’ drugs worth RM3mil

NILAI: Drug smugglers who tried to hoodwink the authorities by sneaking ketamine into the country in wooden cupboards have been foiled by an alert Customs surveillance team.

Customs deputy director-general (enforcement and compliance) Datuk Zulkifli Yahya said his men seized 50kg of ketamine worth about RM3mil and detained three men in an operation on April 8.

He said the team sprang into action moments after two suspects collected a wooden cupboard at about 3pm that day, after it had just arrived at Port Klang in a container from Karachi, Pakistan.

“The two men collected the cupboard and immediately drove away.

“However, my men stopped them along Jalan Jasa in Klang a short while later,” he told reporters at the Customs Narcotics headquarters in Kg Jijan near here.

They found the drugs in 25 packets weighing 1kg each hidden inside the wooden cupboard.

The two men, one of whom is a Pakistani, were arrested.

Zulkifli said after questioning the duo, his men conducted another operation at a store in Port Klang and found a similar wooden cupboard there.

“We found another 25 packets of the drugs weighing 25kg in total hidden inside,” he said.

Zulkifli said Customs detained another suspect in Klang in a follow-up operation on Tuesday to help in investigations.

The three, aged 27, 36 and 42, have been remanded for 14 days.

He said that so far this year, Customs had seized 1,400kg of illicit drugs with a market value of RM37mil.