KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Two journalists among 10 people arrested for alleged involvement in a drug and contraband smuggling syndicate were also former military intelligence officers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealed today.
Its chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the two had opted for early retirement before taking up positions as journalists at an online media company.
“Based on our checks, their jobs as journalists were merely a front for their actual roles in the syndicate,” he was quoted saying by New Straits Times.
Yesterday, the Magistrate’s Court issued remand orders against 10 individuals, including five senior Malaysian Armed Forces officers, to assist the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation into a smuggling syndicate operating in the country’s south.
The MACC said the others remanded comprise two journalists from an online media agency, a company manager, an administrative assistant at the Malaysian Medical Association, and a foreign woman.
According to sources, the five senior military officers and five civilians, aged between 30 and 55, were arrested around the Klang Valley earlier this week in “Ops Sohor”, carried out by MACC’s Intelligence Division with the cooperation of the police.
The military intelligence officers are suspected of colluding with the syndicate by leaking operational information to help them evade enforcement.
The smuggled goods allegedly brought into the country include drugs, cigarettes and other items from neighbouring countries, with an estimated value of about RM5 million a month.
The raids followed about 12 months of intelligence gathering, and the suspects are believed to have received between RM30,000 and RM50,000 in bribes for each smuggling trip conducted.
In the Wednesday operation, MACC also seized over RM63,000 in cash, several packages suspected to contain drugs, weighing and measuring equipment, liquor and imitation firearms found at the raided premises.
