ALOR SETAR, Feb 20 — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) crippled an attempt to smuggle in fresh ganja leaves from a neighbouring country through Pulau Langgun near Langkawi, yesterday.

Kedah/Perlis MMEA director First Admiral (Maritime) Romli Mustafa said the consignment of ganja leaves was seized from a fibre-boat at about 2.7 nautical miles to the north of Pulau Langgun at 10pm.

"A MMEA boat was patrolling the area when coming across a fibre-boat that was moving fast in the dark. Realising the presence of the MMEA vessel, the suspect dropped a yellow container into the sea and switched directions and headed towards the Thailand border to escape,” he said in a statement, here today.

He added that when the container was fished out of the water and checked, 2kg of ganja leaves were found with an estimated value of RM6,000.

"The ganja leaves are believed to have been smuggled into Malaysia for processing. The processed ganja will later be sold to local addicts. The seized items were later sent to the Bukit Malut Maritime Jetty,” he said.

"The Kedah/Perlis MMEA are always ready to deploy its assets at locations identified as hotspots to curb smuggling activities,” he said. — Bernama