PENANG COPS NAB FIVE MEN, SEIZE 12KG OF HEROIN WORTH OVER RM120,000  

GEORGE TOWN, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- Police busted a drug trafficking syndicate with the arrest of five men and more than 12 kg of heroin worth RM124,550 seized in two raids in Seberang Perai Utara between 1 pm yesterday and 4 am today.

Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said the raids were carried out by a team from the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department of the Penang police headquarters.

He said the first raid at a livestock breeding area in Tasek Gelugor saw the arrest of two local men and a foreign national, where police found 22 transparent plastic packets containing powder and white and yellow lumps of suspected heroin weighing 10.025 kg worth RM96,250.

"We then arrested two more local men separately and the suspects led us to a room in the Mak Mandin area where we confiscated seven transparent plastic packets containing powder and white and yellow lumps suspected to be heroin weighing 2.95 kg worth RM28,300, thus making the total amount of drugs seized at 12,975 kg worth RM124,550," he said in a statement today.

Hamzah said they also seized three cars, two motorcycles, five necklaces, four rings, two earrings and RM2,500 cash, with the total value of seized drugs and property being RM311,363.40.

According to police intelligence, the syndicate has been active in drug trafficking since the middle of last year.

Hamzah said a urine screening also found one of the suspects positive for methamphetamine, while four suspects had records related to criminal and drug offences.

All those arrested between the ages of 21 and 42 were remanded for six days until Jan 15 for investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

-- BERNAMA