KOTA KINABALU, May 20 — The Sabah Royal Malaysian Customs Department successfully foiled attempts to distribute various types of drugs worth over RM3,153,650 through three separate seizures at the Tawau International Airport and the Pos Aviation Warehouse in Kota Kinabalu recently.
State Customs director Ahmad Taufik Sulaiman said that at around 1.35pm last Monday (May 11), officers on duty inspected luggage at the Tawau Airport after scanning images detected suspicious contents inside four bags at the Pos Aviation Warehouse.
"The team from the Tawau JKDM Enforcement Branch then conducted a physical inspection and discovered 142 ziplock airtight plastic bags containing clear crystals suspected to be methamphetamine.
“The total seizure is estimated to weigh 57.27kg with a value of RM2,863,500," he said during a media conference today.
Taufik added that the syndicate is believed to have used courier services by hiding the drugs in plastic bags before placing them in luggage to be sent to Tawau.
"In the second case, the Sabah Customs Narcotics Branch seized a package suspected to contain 4,678g of methamphetamine worth RM233,900 at the Pos Aviation Warehouse in Kota Kinabalu on May 11.
The seizure was made at around 1pm before the package was brought to the Sabah Enforcement House for further investigation," he said.
The syndicate is believed to have placed the drugs inside a white package before storing it in a box and sending it to Semporna via courier services.
Meanwhile, Taufik noted that another seizure was made on May 8 involving 375g of ecstasy pills worth RM56,250 at the Pos Aviation Warehouse in Kota Kinabalu.
Inspections revealed the package was labelled as an electronic goods set to deceive the authorities.
"All three cases are being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment, as well as whipping of not less than 12 strokes, upon conviction," he said.
