Four nabbed, RM5.2mil in syabu seized in Tawau
KOTA KINABALU: Police in Tawau, Sabah’s east coast, crippled a major drug syndicate with the seizure of 104.3kg of syabu that had a street value of RM5.2mil.
Four Malaysians were nabbed by a team of policemen from the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) two days ago.
Bukit Aman NCID Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said the seizure of the drugs, sealed in tea packets, was the biggest by the Sabah Narcotics Department since its inception 22 years ago.
“We believe we crippled a major syndicate involved in drug trafficking,” he said in Tawau yesterday.
Mohmad Salleh said the seizure and arrests of the four from Johor and Kuala Lumpur, aged between 31 and 39, came following two separate raids in Tawau on Friday, between 12.30pm and 1.45pm.
The police also found RM2,000 in Malaysia and Singapore currencies.
“We believe the bulk of the drugs were meant for a neighbouring country while some were for local distribution,” he added.
Mohmad Salleh said police were still investigating the modus operandi of the syndicate, adding that they would verify how the drugs were brought into Sabah.
“We are checking if it was flown in by a passenger or the syndicate used air courier,” he added.
All four suspects have been remanded for further investigation.
Mohmad Salleh also noted that in the last two months, narcotics investigators seized a total of 167kg of syabu in Tawau, Lahad Datu (52kg), Semporna (11kg) and Kota Kinabalu (four kg).