GEORGE TOWN, Oct 23 — Police have busted a drug trafficking syndicate and heroin-processing laboratory following the arrest of four men and the seizure of various prohibited items worth RM1.87 million in a series of raids in Penang.

Penang police chief Datuk Khaw Kok Chin said that, based on information and intelligence carried out, the state Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID), together with the Bukit Aman NCID, launched a planned operation from 9am on Friday (October 20) until yesterday and raided six locations in the Timur Laut and Barat Daya districts.

"In the first raid, police arrested a 27-year-old man, who is the mastermind, by the roadside in the Tanjung Tokong area here at 9pm (Friday) and seized various types of drugs in his car, which was parked about 200 metres away from him.

"Police then arrested another man in the Gelugor area at 12.20am (Saturday) and two more men, aged 28 and 33, at Lebuh Sungai Pinang at 1am (Saturday).

"Following the arrest of these three men, we seized various types of heroin and syabu kept in cars parked not far from where they were detained. Their modus operandi is to leave the vehicles containing the drugs for the buyers to come and take them without the presence of the (arrested) suspects,” he told a media conference here today.

Khaw said that based on the direction provided by the suspects, police then raided a two-storey bungalow lot in the Teluk Kumbar area, near here, at 7.15pm on Saturday and discovered a heroin-processing laboratory there.

He said the syndicate is believed to have rented the premises, which is equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to detect the presence of authorities, and are believed to have carried out their drug processing and trafficking activities since early this year.

"Police then raided two more locations yesterday and, based on preliminary investigations, the syndicate obtained its drugs from overseas and processed them at the house before selling them to buyers for the local market, raking in hundreds of thousands of ringgit each month.

"The four men who were arrested played the role of drug distributors. Several other suspects, believed to have expertise in ‘cooking’ heroin, are still on the loose and we are tracking them down,” he said, adding that the syndicate has a network abroad and in several other states.

He said that in the series of raids, police seized heroin weighing 23.38 kilogrammes (kg); heroin base (18.4kg); syabu (1.507kg); caffeine powder (94.4kg) and various types of chemicals used for processing heroin as well as the three cars.

He said police also confiscated six cars, cash, jewellery and two motorcycles, which all amounted to RM191,595, adding that the drugs seized could be used by some 1.22 million addicts.

"One of the suspects has a cleaning company while the other three are unemployed. Two of them have drug and crime-related records,” he said, adding that all the suspects have been remanded for a week and the case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. — Bernama