JOHOR BARU, Oct 20 — The federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) thwarted an attempt by an international syndicate to smuggle 398.28kg of syabu (crystal methamphetamine) with a street value of about RM14.33 million that was bound for the Philippines.

Bukit Aman NCID director Datuk Razarudin Hussain said the operation’s success was the result of information sharing with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which provided information on the movement of containers from Guatemala suspected of carrying the illicit drugs.

He said the Royal Malaysia Police in collaboration with the Customs Department managed to locate the container at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Gelang Patah near here on October 16.

"Following inspections with special image-scanning equipment, we detected a disparity between the goods in the containers involved.

"When the container was opened, we found 14 sacks of syabu out of the 100 sacks declared as coffee beans that should have been sent to the Philippines,” said Razarudin.

He said this during a media conference held at the Johor police contingent headquarters here today. Also present was Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

Razarudin added that initial information revealed the international drug syndicate was suspected of making Malaysia a transit location before the illicit substance was sent on to a third country.

He said the police here, with the cooperation of its international counterparts, were conducting further investigations to track down the syndicate mastermind.

Razarudin said that the drugs seized were the equivalent of almost two million fixes.

He added that the success of this seizure was due to the close cooperation between Bukit Aman, PDEA, the Customs Department and state police.