Close ties led to big drug haul in Penang, says Thai narcotics head
BANGKOK: The seizure of various drugs worth RM72.5 million in Penang last Wednesday was not possible without good cooperation between the Malaysian and Thai anti-narcotics police.
Both sides had exchanged vital intelligence, which led to the arrest of the suspects, as well as the discovery of the sophisticated drug lab in the state.
“At 7.50pm on Sept 4, we were asked by our Malaysian counterparts to put surveillance on two suspects, a man and a woman, who would be travelling to Suvarnabhumi Airport from Hong Kong,” Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) head Lt-Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk said here.
He said the suspects, who were allegedly the “brains” behind the Penang drug ring, had first checked in at an upscale hotel in one of the tallest buildings in the Thai capital before moving to a modest hotel in Pratunam area within the city centre.
The two suspects then checked out of their hotel on Sept 11 and proceeded to Suvarnabhumi Airport for a flight to Hat Yai in southern Thailand, said Sommai.
“They landed in Hat Yai at 12.55pm (local time),” he said, adding that NSB operatives had followed them when they travelled by land to Betong in Yala province, where they arrived at 7pm.
The sleepy town of Betong sits just across the Malaysian border town of Pengkalan Hulu in northern Perak.
It was unclear why the two suspects took the longer route to Betong to enter Malaysia, and not the straightforward route to the border checkpoint in Sadao-Bukit Kayu Hitam, which was about an hour’s drive from Hat Yai.
“We then informed our Malaysian counterparts when the two suspects crossed the border into Malaysia,” said Sommai.
The man and the woman were swiftly apprehended by Malaysian police when they crossed the border.
After questioning, they led the Bukit Aman narcotics police to the well-equipped drug lab in Bukit Tengah, Penang.
In the largest drug seizure since 1996, the Malaysian police confiscated more than two million Eramin 5 pills, 700kg Eramin 5 powder, syabu, Ecstasy and chemicals to produce drugs.
The police also seized drug paraphernalia worth about half a million ringgit. They also estimated the seized drugs could supply five million users.
Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh on Friday said two men and a woman, aged between 30 and 40, were nabbed in Pengkalan Hulu.
He said they were able to cripple the syndicate thanks to cooperation with their counterparts in China and Thailand.
According to Sommai, Thailand’s NSB and Office of the Narcotics Control Board had cooperated with Bukit Aman on three occasions this year.
“The cooperation between Thailand and Malaysia to fight drugs are based on close relations because we are brothers and sisters,” he said.