Malaysia seizes $1.26 bln in drugs bust in cooperation with Saudi Arabia

Malaysia seizes $1.26 bln in drugs bust in cooperation with Saudi Arabia
March 24, 2021, 10:58 am

Malaysia’s customs seized 94.8 million Captagon pills, containing amphetamine worth $1.26 billion (5.2 Malaysian Ringgit). (Supplied)

Malaysia’s customs seized 94.8 million Captagon pills, containing amphetamine worth $1.26 billion (5.2 Malaysian Ringgit), in the country’s largest drug bust made possible by Saudi Arabia’s Directorate General of Narcotics Control and the Malaysian police, local media reported on Tuesday.

The drug bust was a result of the cooperation between the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the Royal Malaysia Police and the Directorate General of Narcotics Control of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, according to the Royal Malaysian Customs Department director-general, Datuk Seri Abdul Latif Abdul Kadir.

He also said the drugs, weighing 16-tons, were found hidden inside a castor within three containers that arrived at Malaysia’s port from the Middle East, according to Malaysian newspaper The Sun Daily.

The director-general added that initial investigations found that the containers were meant to be shipped to an East Asian country.

“It is learnt that once the goods arrive in this country, it will be shipped to a third country before being sent back to their country of origin. This is the modus operandi used by international (drug) syndicates,” the newspaper quoted Abdul Kadir as saying.