How close Saudi-Malaysian cooperation led to a drug bust

Close cooperation with Saudi Arabia authorities has helped Malaysia foil two major drug trafficking attempts in the past month, a top Royal Malaysia Police official said on Friday.

In the most recent operation, nearly 3.9 million amphetamine pills hidden inside a shipment container of aluminum floor springs were seized on Monday. The drug bust was the result of a joint investigation by Malaysian police and the Saudi General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC).

“It was the cooperation between the GDNC and Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs that resulted in this drug seizure,” Malaysia’s Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Razarudin Husain told Arab News.

The estimated worth of the drugs, he added, was about SR202.5 million ($54 million).

“The GDNC is one of NCID’s closest counterparts,” Husain said.

On March 15, with the help of GDNC, Malaysia seized 94.8 million Captagon pills worth $1.3 billion. According to Royal Malaysian Customs Department director general Abdul Latif Abdul Kadir, the drug bust was one of the largest in the country’s history.

Close cooperation with Saudi authorities comes as syndicates in the Middle East are shifting their routes to smuggle amphetamine pills, known as Captagon tablets, to the Arabian Peninsula through southeast Asia.

“Malaysia is being used as a transit before the drugs are distributed to the destination countries in the Middle East,” Husain said. He also lauded the GDNC for its help in cracking down on drug trafficking in the region.

“It is important that drug enforcement agencies cooperate closely to take out drug syndicates that operate with no respect for our borders,” Husain said. “Through close and timely cooperation, we can take the fight to the drug syndicates.”