ISKANDAR PUTERI, Feb 23 — A 21-year-old university student living in Johor has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling in 1kg of marijuana which is illegal in Malaysia, through a courier service from Thailand.

Now the authorities are looking for the suspect’s 24-year-old brother who is also an undergraduate, to help with investigations.

Customs deputy director-general (enforcement and compliance) Datuk Sazali Mohamad said enforcers had raided a house in Taman Bukit Dahlia in Pasir Gudang at 12.15pm on February 9 based on information from the Johor Baru Customs Department’s mail and courier unit, and found a box containing the marijuana.

"Preliminary investigations revealed that the marijuana was packed into a box and was falsely declared as plastic drawers before being imported into Malaysia through the services of a Thai courier company,” he told a press conference at the Johor Customs Department’s enforcement complex in Gelang Patah here.

Sazali said a detailed inspection of the box revealed that the amount of marijuana yielded a estimated market value of about RM2,500.

He added that the department’s investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the marijuana was illegally brought in by the suspect for personal consumption.

"However, we are still investigating to determine if the prohibited substance was also for distribution in the local market,” he said.

Sazali said the 21-year-old man was found positive for marijuana use in a narcotics urine test.

He said Customs officials are also actively tracking down the suspect’s 24-year-old brother, who is also a university student, to assist with investigations under Section 39B and Section 15 (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

Sazali said courier services are now commonly used to smuggle in illicit drugs disguised as some other goods to avoid detection by authorities.