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Malaysian police arrest 15 Iranians in methamphetamine bust

Iran Materials 26 January 2011 11:19 (UTC +04:00)
Malaysian police arrested 15 Iranians and seized nearly 80 kilograms of drugs worth an estimated 5.1 million dollars in the capital Kuala Lumpur, officials said Wednesday.
Malaysian police arrest 15 Iranians in methamphetamine bust

Malaysian police arrested 15 Iranians and seized nearly 80 kilograms of drugs worth an estimated 5.1 million dollars in the capital Kuala Lumpur, officials said Wednesday, DPA reported
Anti-narcotics officers from the Bukit Aman police headquarters conducted six raids last week following surveillance over the past five months, narcotics department director Noor Rashid Ibrahim said,

He said the suspects, 20 to 40 years old and including two women, were arrested at different locations in the city centre. Police also discovered a small drug-processing laboratory.

Police seized 78.7 kilograms of methamphetamine with an estimated value of 15.7 million ringgit (5.14 million dollars).

Noor Rashid said 32 Iranians have been arrested this month for suspected drug trafficking. Police have seized a total of 116 kilograms of methamphetamine with an estimated value of 23 million ringgit.

"We believe that all of them are possibly members of the same drug syndicate and have been operating for a long time in this country," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama agency.

"The drugs were smuggled in from abroad and processed in this country."

Malaysian police detained 138 Iranians last year on suspicion of drug trafficking, a sharp increase from 16 the year before.

Despite Malaysia's tough drug laws which prescribe the mandatory death sentence by hanging, authorities said an increasing number of smugglers using the country as a transit point. dpa jy tl im Author: Julia Yeow

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