Tuesday, Sep 04, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR - He stayed in a luxurious bungalow in Lukut, Negri Sembilan, with his girlfriend. He also owned a hotel in Lagos, Nigeria, and lived life to the fullest, fuelled by hundreds of thousands of ringgit from drug trafficking.
But the 31-year-old mastermind of an African drug syndicate is now facing the prospect of being sent to the gallows after being arrested.
Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the suspect was nabbed in Lukut on Saturday after six months of surveillance and intelligence gathering.
"Our investigations revealed that the suspect was responsible for coordinating the import and export of drugs with Malaysia as a transit point. The mastermind had an extensive network of drug contacts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and in the Southeast Asian region," Rashid revealed, adding that police also seized a BMW and a Toyota Camry during the arrest.
It was learnt that the suspect had kept a low profile to avoid drawing attention from the authorities, and both the luxury cars were rented.
It was also believed that the suspect had rented the bungalow where he lived with his local girlfriend.
Checks revealed that the suspect had transferred substantial sums of money back to Nigeria on several occasions.
Police are checking all his bank accounts.
The breakthrough came when a key lieutenant of the syndicate was arrested in Taman Seri Hartamas on Friday night.
He later led police to a luxury condominium nearby where they found syabu and heroin.
"Police found 26kg of 'ice' and 16kg of heroin worth RM5.6 million (S$2.2 million) inside the condominium and several travelling bags which had been modified. Each bag had special compartments for storing drugs," Rashid said.
"The bags were used by mules to smuggle drugs to various destinations worldwide or to bring drugs into the country. The syndicate used either Nigerians or other foreign nationals as mules, usually women."
He added that police would be contacting Interpol to verify the mastermind's business interests in Nigeria and the extent of his wealth. The two Nigerians and the local woman had been remanded for a week to facilitate investigations.
Meanwhile, Rashid said a Nigerian woman and an Iranian man were arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Monday and Tuesday, respectively, for drug trafficking.
Police found 1.38kg of syabu hidden inside a special compartment in the woman's suitcase.
The man was found with 1.41kg of syabu, which had been hidden in the bottom compartment of six cans of spray paint.
In an unrelated case, Rashid said police nabbed a Nigerian man and a Zambian woman at an apartment in Damansara Perdana on Aug 28 and seized 2.9kg of syabu.
Two Nigerian men were later arrested in Damansara and Puchong in a follow-up operation.
