Chocolate of a different kind

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KUALA LUMPUR: They smuggled designer drugs into Malaysia by hiding them in plastic containers which were passed off as powdered chocolate and strawberry flavouring at the Customs checkpoints.

However, Bukit Aman was not fooled and a team was sent to Jalan Dang Wangi and Jalan Kemunting last Saturday after a tip-off, where nine men were arrested, including two Indian and two Myanmar nationals.

"Police seized 60kg of ketamine, 64 Ecstasy pills, 150 Eramin 5 pills, 400g of heroin, 10g of cannabis and 19g of syabu," a source told the New Straits Times.

"This syndicate did not specialise in a single drug, they sold various types of synthetic and plant-based drugs.

"Various smuggling methods were used including disguising the drugs as apowder in Milo tins."

A team from the Narcotics Department carried out surveillance in Jalan Dang Wangi and Jalan Kemunting, believed to be the syndicate's headquarters.

Police saw several men outside a house behaving suspiciously.

The raiding party nabbed two Myanmar men, aged 40 and 36, on the ground floor.

On the upper floor, police arrested two Indian nationals, aged 41 and 24.

Although the men had proper documents, they were found to have been using the house as a storage and packaging area for the drugs.

Police also found numerous types of drugs and packaging equipment.

"Follow-up operations later led to the arrest of five local men," the source said.

The five men, aged between 27 and 39, are believed to have distributed the drugs for the syndicate.

All nine men have been remanded to facilitate investigations.

In Sungai Petani, four brothers, aged between 19 and 31, have been arrested with about 4kg of heroin on Wednesday.

Kedah deputy police chief Datuk Asri Yusoff said police seized nine packets of drugs from under the rear seat of the eldest brother's car.

The suspect then led police to two of his brothers, one of them a 19-year-old polytechnic student, at a house in Lunas and to another brother at a shop in Kulim.

Asri said the suspects were believed to have been active in Sungai Petani and Lunas since July.