SEPANG: A Korean man 83 years old tried to smuggle 3.84kg. cocaine worth RM770,000 believed to be supplied to the local market was apprehended by the Customs Department.
Customs Department Deputy Director-General Datuk Sazali Mohamad said the suspect had arrived from Doha, Qatar, and entered the country’s border using a tourist visa.
Referring to the flight records, he had boarded a Qatar Airways flight departing Doha Airport to KLIA on Sept.26 and arrived in Malaysia on 27 Sept.2023.
“When inspecting the two pieces of luggage carried by the suspect, it was discovered that two silver-colored packages were hidden inside the inner compartment of the bag,” he said at the Customs Cargo Complex here as reported by NST.
Sazali said the court had approved the remand application under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 as the Korean man will be held for 15 days until 12th Oct.
“Concealing narcotics inside the luggage that has been modified to deceive the authorities is the modus operandi of this syndicate.
“Based on the quantity of the cocaine seized, this operation has prevented the distribution to approximately 20,000 drug users,” Sazali said.
Meanwhile, in another case, the Customs Department has apprehended a 21-year-old man after he attempted to claim a luggage containing drugs worth RM500,000 at KLIA last week.
Sazali said the man was arrested at 11.20 pm on 27th September when he tried to pick up the luggage at the ‘Lost and Found’ section.
He said the suspect should have boarded his flight to Chinese Taipei but he did not probably having ‘cold feet’.
“The modus operandi of this syndicate involved concealing contraband inside toy boxes and food containers to deceive the authorities,” he said.
He added, the Customs personnel had found 4.5kg of heroin and a kilogramme of ketamine.
The suspect was detained under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and can be punished under Section 39(B)(2) of the same act which carries a death penalty or life imprisonment and shall, if not sentenced to death, be punished with at least 12 strokes of the cane if found guilty.
He said, based on the total weight of the drugs seized, the operation has prevented the distribution to approximately 30,000 drug users. – Malaysia World News
