GEORGE TOWN, June 18 — Police arrested an unemployed man who hid in his vehicle nearly 100 kilogrammes (kg) of cannabis estimated to be worth RM309,000 in a raid at a parking lot of an apartment in Gat Lebuh Maccalum here on Friday.

Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said 46-year-old man was picked up at 1pm at the motorcycle parking area, as he was on his way to apparently deliver the drugs to a customer.

"Initial inspection found two compressed slabs of cannabis weighing nearly 2kg worth RM6,000 with him. The police then inspected a Honda CRV SUV located 500 metres from where the suspect was detained and found four plastic boxes in the passenger seat.

"The police found 98 compressed slabs of cannabis weighing 98kg worth RM303,000, and preliminary investigations revealed that the man used the car to store the drugs,” he told a press conference here today.

The man was running a solo operation since early this month and believed to be distributing the drugs in the state especially the Timur Laut district area.

Hamzah said the man, who was tested positive for drugs and found to have 12 criminal records, would be remanded until Friday for investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act. — Bernama