Caught over mobile drug lab

Duo who cook drugs on the go no longer on the move

Always on the move, two men would pack up their drug-making equipment in a vehicle and move off to their next base of operations to throw off any effort by the police to locate them.

However, after only six months in the business, the long arm of the law eventually caught up with them during two raids on Monday.

The raids were the results of a combined investigation from the Petaling Jaya and Ampang Jaya police.

One of the suspects, who is a “cooker”, otherwise known as the man responsible for the bulk of the drug synthesising, was first caught at 9.15pm on Monday after the police raided a house in Taman Tun Abdul Razak, Ampang.

The suspect who works as a used car salesman had a prior police record.

Various packaged drugs were found along with the equipment used to synthesise the drugs, which were kept inside an MPV.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Noor Azam Jamaludin, in a press conference yesterday, estimated the seized equipment and drugs to be valued at around RM198,805.

This included the 9kg of suspected heroin and 13kg of other drugs that were found inside the vehicle.

Follow-up investigations led to a second raid on the same day in a bungalow house in Valencia, Sungai Buloh, where a 49-year-old man was arrested.

Both suspects, aged 49 and 53, tested positive for drugs after urine tests were conducted on them.

Comm Noor Azam said that the “cooker” was well versed in his craft.

He said the two suspects operated and processed the drugs from a mini mobile drug lab which was set up at homestays to evade detection.

“They have been operating for the past six months and we managed to sniff them out.

“This was also in part due to the information given to us by the public, so we are grateful for that. I urge the public to continue sharing information with the police,” he added.

The police were still tracing down the supplier who had provided the chemicals to the suspects.

In an unrelated case, a suspected drug peddler was detained at a car park in Puchong Jaya on Monday.

The police also seized 5.1kg of ketamine with an estimated value of RM229,500.

“The suspect, aged 38, has two prior records for drug-related offences. He too tested positive for methamphetamine,” said Comm Noor Azam.

Stopped in their tracks: Comm noor azam (centre) showing the drug processing equipment confiscated during a press conference at the shah alam police headquarters.