Police thwart bid to smuggle 27.5kg heroin into Australia

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JOHOR BAHARU: There is no such thing as an ‘iron-clad’ mode of smuggling drugs into Australia, as a local syndicate found to its utter dismay.

On Monday, Johor police rubbished that notion when they seized 27.5kg of high-grade heroin concealed in three iron rods which were bound Down Under.

The seizure of the RM2.1 million drugs was made at the entrance of the Tanjung Pelepas Port in Gelang Patah here.

The three iron rods were found in one of four containers ferried by two lorries laden with iron rods, which were stopped for checks in the 1.15pm incident.

Johor police chief Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said five local men were detained to facilitate investigations into the attempted smuggling of the heroin into Australia.

“We foiled the attempt to smuggle the drugs overseas and based on initial investigations, this was the first time that an attempt was made to smuggle heroin into Australia from Johor.

“Previously, drugs from Johor were smuggled into Singapore or Indonesia, and that too, in small quantities,” he told reporters here yesterday. He said the suspects, aged between 35 and 40, were remanded under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carried the mandatory death penalty upon conviction. — Bernama