Foiled – drug mules’ flight to Busan.
Local women taped RM8.16mil in drugs to their bodies
KUALA LUMPUR: Two local women, with drugs worth about RM8.16mil taped to their bodies, were arrested before they got on a flight to Busan, South Korea.
Police arrested the women, 26 and 31, along with a local man, 21, at a hotel in the Klang Valley around midnight on Sunday, said Bukit Aman Narcotic Crime Investigation Department (NCID) acting director Deputy Comm Datuk Kamarulzaman Mamat.
The man is believed to be a syndicate member who was helping the women tape the drugs.
The two women already had 5.1kg of syabu taped to their bodies under their clothes when police raided their room, said DCP Kamarulzaman.
“They were about to leave for the airport for their flight.
“These drug mules earn a lot of money per trip,” he told a press conference at the Ampang Jaya police headquarters yesterday.
He said the women received an initial payment of RM1,000 along with plane tickets and hotel rooms.
“When they return, they get another payment of RM15,000.
“The syndicates pay them handsomely because the drugs are worth a lot more overseas,” he said.
He said the seized syabu, which was worth about RM50,000 per kg in Malaysia, was worth around US$400,000 per kg in South Korea.
“That’s about RM1.6mil per kg over there compared to RM50,000 here.
“So far this year 30 Malaysian drug mules have been arrested here and overseas. Last year it was 71 Malaysians,” he said.
DCP Kamarulzaman added that some transport the drugs themselves like taping them to their bodies, while others travel to a foreign country and collect the drugs from a courier service sent by syndicate to them.
“We are cracking down on these syndicates. We recently busted another with seven arrests in Negri Sembilan,” he said.
The detained trio have been remanded until May 18.