Noor Rashid (second left) shows the Ketamin (also pictured right) seized in the raid at a condominium. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: For the first time in Malaysia, the police have unearthed a ketamin-processing laboratory.
A team from the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department seized 17.43kg of the drug in two successive operations last Friday and detained two ‘childhood friends’ to facilitate investigations.
Initial police investigations revealed the duo, from Sungai Petani, Kedah had masterminded the entire drug operation from producing the ketamin to distributing the drug in the Klang Valley.
The suspects, aged 44 and 51, have been remanded for a week under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
Apart from seizing the drug worth a total of about RM720,000, the police also found 200 ecstasy pills in the suspects’ possession.
The department’s director, Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said in the first operation last Friday, the police nabbed the suspects in a Myvi in Taman Mutiara, Cheras.
From the car boot, three plastic packages of ketamin weighing 2.49kg were seized.
Noor Rashid told a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters here yesterday, the arrests led the police to a condominium in Taman Sri Hartamas where nine plastic packages containing ketamin weighing 9.04kg; two opaque packages containing ketamin weighing 2.76kg; and,
four big plastic packages containing white powder suspected to be ketamin weighing 3.2kg were found.
He said 200 ecstasy pills, chemicals and drug-making paraphernalia were also found in the condominium.
“Our investigations revealed the two suspects had been carrying out drug-related activities over the past eight months ago as they had ‘transformed’ the condominium into a laboratory.
“Renting the premises for RM2,200 a month, they also distributed the drug in the Klang Valley,” he said, adding that one of them was detained previously for possession of a dangerous weapon. — Bernama