11 September 2012 | last updated at 08:38AM
Shock over drug lab find
By BEN TAN AND SYED UMAR ARIFF | [email protected]
PERFECT HIDEOUT: Residents unaware drugs worth RM20m was seized in apartment block
Pemandang Tanjung apartment in Jalan Junid, Muar, where a unit was used as a drug laboratory as well as for processing and packing Ecstasy and Erimin 5 pills. Pic by Roslan Khamis
MUAR: A DRUG syndicate which operated from an apartment unit in Jalan Junid, here, took advantage of the tight security and the neighbours who kept to themselves, to run their laboratory for the past year.
Yesterday, however, some 24 hours after police raided the unit, the residents were shocked to learn that there was a drug laboratory operating there. In the raid, police seized drugs worth RM20 million. They found an assortment of multi-coloured pills, believed to be Ecstasy and Erimin 5, and drug processing and packing equipment, in the unit.
They also found a large piece of crystal methamphetamine (syabu) wrapped in plastic, which weighed more than 1kg. Three suspects were arrested, a husband and wife team and a male accomplice.
Further checks revealed that the couple had a child, said to be in Standard 1 at a nearby school. The wife is a Sabahan who married a local and both have been based in Muar for several years.
Sunday's haul was said to be the largest recorded this year and the drugs were believed to be for distribution in Johor and neighbouring states. Investigators believed that the gang had kept their cover well as the unit was part of a two-block complex comprising 70 units.
Checks revealed that the neighbours hardly knew each other. One of the residents, who declined to be named, bluntly revealed: "We are not really concerned about the goings-on here." The resident, a 70-year-old woman, was surprised by the large number of police crowding in front of one of the units.
A security guard said he had seen the couple before and since most of the residents did not mingle with each other, not much was known about them. "I have seen them coming in and out of the complex. They had a sticker on their vehicle, which showed they stayed here."
Shock over drug lab find
By BEN TAN AND SYED UMAR ARIFF | [email protected]
PERFECT HIDEOUT: Residents unaware drugs worth RM20m was seized in apartment block
Pemandang Tanjung apartment in Jalan Junid, Muar, where a unit was used as a drug laboratory as well as for processing and packing Ecstasy and Erimin 5 pills. Pic by Roslan Khamis
MUAR: A DRUG syndicate which operated from an apartment unit in Jalan Junid, here, took advantage of the tight security and the neighbours who kept to themselves, to run their laboratory for the past year.
Yesterday, however, some 24 hours after police raided the unit, the residents were shocked to learn that there was a drug laboratory operating there. In the raid, police seized drugs worth RM20 million. They found an assortment of multi-coloured pills, believed to be Ecstasy and Erimin 5, and drug processing and packing equipment, in the unit.
They also found a large piece of crystal methamphetamine (syabu) wrapped in plastic, which weighed more than 1kg. Three suspects were arrested, a husband and wife team and a male accomplice.
Further checks revealed that the couple had a child, said to be in Standard 1 at a nearby school. The wife is a Sabahan who married a local and both have been based in Muar for several years.
Sunday's haul was said to be the largest recorded this year and the drugs were believed to be for distribution in Johor and neighbouring states. Investigators believed that the gang had kept their cover well as the unit was part of a two-block complex comprising 70 units.
Checks revealed that the neighbours hardly knew each other. One of the residents, who declined to be named, bluntly revealed: "We are not really concerned about the goings-on here." The resident, a 70-year-old woman, was surprised by the large number of police crowding in front of one of the units.
A security guard said he had seen the couple before and since most of the residents did not mingle with each other, not much was known about them. "I have seen them coming in and out of the complex. They had a sticker on their vehicle, which showed they stayed here."
