Caption: Hamzah (second left) showing how the drugs were hidden inside a secret compartment of the suspect’s suitcase.
KOTA KINABALU: A woman from Peninsular was detained at Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1 on Monday after 2.25 kilograms of methamphetamine or syabu valued at about RM500,000 was found in a suitcase belonging to her.
Sabah Customs deputy director (Enforcement and Compliance) Hamzah Sundang said the arrest was made around 11.15am on May 27 after Customs enforcement officers detected the drugs hidden in the suitcase owned by the 40-year-old suspect when it was being scanned by a machine.
“Investigation by our personnel at the airport found the drugs hidden in a secret compartment.
“The crystal-like substance is believed to be methamphetamine or syabu, weighing 2.25 kg and valued at RM500,000,” Hamzah told a press conference at the State Customs Headquarters here yesterday.
He said initial investigation revealed that the suspect had smuggled the drugs from India and transited at Changi Airport in Singapore and KKIA before taking a connecting flight back to Kuala Lumpur on the same day.
Hamzah added that the department also believed that the suspect, who is a teacher in Peninsular, had been recruited as a drug mule by her Nigerian husband.
“We are still carrying out investigation as well as to locate the husband,” he said, adding that international drug syndicates had been found to recruit local women as drug mules.
The suspect has been remanded for investigation and the case will be investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug trafficking.
The offence carries the death penalty upon conviction.
This is the third drug trafficking attempts made this year where in the first case, a 26-year-old Indian citizen was arrested for trafficking 14.87 kilograms of syabu worth close to RM1 million at Sandakan Airport on March 6.
The second attempt was made on March 25 at Tawau Airport by a man from Peninsular for smuggling 14.11kg of ketamine worth RM500,000.
Meanwhile, Hamzah said investigations revealed that international drug activities were using airports around the state to smuggle the prohibited items into the country by drug mules and smugglers.
Among the airports and destinations that had been identified are Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan, he said.
Hamzah said in 2011, there were three international drug smuggling cases and Customs personnel managed to foil such activities with the arrest of three men and a woman and confiscated a total of 21.1 kg of syabu and ketamine worth RM1.5 million.
“In 2012, our personnel managed to foil three drugs smuggling cases and seized a total of 5.52 kg of syabu worth RM1.4 million,” he said, adding that six people, including four Filipinas, were arrested that year.