Malaysia police bust biggest drug lab

[Jiang Wei]

Published: Sunday October 24, 2010 MYT 2:40:00 PM

Police bust biggest drug lab

SEREMBAN: The police have uncovered a drug processing laboratory, believed to be the biggest they have seen in years, at Taman Oakland, Seremban 2 here. Gunny sacks of Eramine 5 pills weighing 318.4kg worth RM20 million were seized and three men nabbed, said Bukit Aman Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigations Department deputy director 1, Datuk Othman Harun.

"Two men aged 23 and 40 picked at the lab housed at a shop house in Taman Oakland at 10.45am on Saturday by the Bukit Aman Narcotics CID team. One of them is a mechanical engineering graduate. "Simultaneously, their boss, who lives in Lukut, was also hauled up. The police sealed his properties worth about RM500,000," Othman told a news conference here Sunday.

He said the arrests showed that locals were being recruited to produce psychotropic drugs as major drug lab busts before involved foreigners such as the Johor Baru lab (2008) and Penang (2009) were operated by Taiwanese and Indonesians respectively. He said the involvement of locals in drug processing was associated with knowledge acquisition and procurement of ingredients and machines from the local market.

"We will investigate if this syndicate had links with pharmaceutical companies where they could have obtained the ingredients and machines for drug processing and pill packs," he said. He said drug syndicates were becoming desperate due to the difficulty of smuggling drugs into the country and had resorted to opening labs for the domestic market.

Eramine 5 pills fetch between RM12 and RM15 each or RM100 for a strip of 10 pills. The demand for the pills is high as they are cheaper than Syabu that cost RM200 per tube. Both pills are said to contain heroin. The raid was the second successive drug lab bust after the Penang police closed a drug processing lab at a condominium at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 2 near the Jelutong Expressway on Friday. - Bernama

 

[Jiang Wei]

Drug lab busted, RM20 mil worth Eramin seized


Drug lab busted, RM20 mil worth Eramin seized

Bernama
Published oct 24 2010

Police busted a drug procession laboratory, believed to be one of the biggest in the country, at the Taman Oakland, Seremban 2 Saturday. Sacks of Eramine 5 pills weighing 318.4kg worth RM20 million were seized from a shop house and three men were arrested.

Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigations Department deputy director 1, Datuk Othman Harun said two men aged 23 and 40, one of whom is a mechanical engineering graduate, were arrested at the shop house at 10.45am.

"Simultaneously, their boss, who lives in Lukut, was also picked up. We have since sealed his properties worth about RM500,000," Othman told a media conference in Seremban on Sunday.

Datuk Othman Harun showing the seized Eramin pills to the media​

​

He said the arrests showed that locals were being recruited to produce psychotropic drugs as previoys drug lab busts involved mostly foreigners. Taiwanese were involved in the Johor Baru drug lab case (2008) awhile another lab in Penang last year was operated by Indonesians. Othman said the involvement of locals in drug processing was associated to knowledge acquisition and procurements of ingredients and machines from the local market.

"We will investigate if this syndicate had links with pharmaceutical companies from where they could have obtained the ingredients and machines for drug processing and pill packs," he said. He said drug syndicates were becoming more desperate because of the difficultyin smuggling drugs into the country and had resorted to opening labs for the domestic market.

Eramine 5 pills fetch between RM12 and RM15 each or RM100 for a strip of 10 pills. The demand for the pills is high as they are cheaper than Syabu which cost RM200 per tube. Both pills are said to contain heroin. The raid was the second successive drug lab bust this month. Penang police closed a drug processing lab at a condominium at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 2 near the Jelutong Expressway on Friday.