[AALee]

Wednesday March 28, 2012

‘Hot’ drug haul at LCCT
By JOSEPH SIPALAN
jsipalan@thestar.com.my

SEPANG: An Indian national found out the hard way that hiding 10kg of metamphetamine in a microwave was not a clever way to smuggle drugs into Malaysia.

The 42-year-old man, who had worked as a cleaner at Kuala Lumpur’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) a decade ago, was one of four people nabbed by Customs officers for attempting to smuggle drugs earlier this week.

KLIA Customs deputy director Siti Baya Berahan said the suspect, who arrived at the LCCT from Kolkata at around midnight on Sunday, aroused suspicion when the box containing the microwave tipped the scales at over 10kg.

“A microwave is not that heavy, so our officers checked the box and found the drugs hidden in a special compartment at the bottom of the box,” she said, adding that the drugs were valued at RM2.51mil.

Another Indian national who arrived on the same flight was also detained when a suspicious image cropped up while Customs officers scanned his luggage.

Officers found 5.04kg of metamphetamine worth RM1.26mil hidden at the base of the bag. Siti Baya however said they believed the duo operated separately.

A third Indian national who was flying in from Bangalore was caught at the LCCT passenger checkpoint at 2am on Monday, following a scan of his luggage.

The 51-year-old suspect, who was on his third visit to Malaysia, was found to be carrying some 3.98kg of syabu estimated to be worth RM995,000.

The fourth suspect was a 22-year-old Nigerian who had hidden about 500g of Syabu worth RM125,000 in a special compartment of his luggage at the KL International Airport.

The Nigerian, who flew in from Cairo, claimed he was a student of a tourism institute in Kuala Lumpur.