Police have foiled an attempt to smuggle nearly one tonne of fentanyl from an Eastern country on Aug 19, the first successful interception of its kind in Malaysia.
Bukit Aman narcotics crime investigation department (NCID) director Hussein Omar Khan said the synthetic drug was believed to have been brought in by an international syndicate via Port Klang and was destined for both neighbouring and local markets.
“Fentanyl is extremely dangerous as it is more than 100 times stronger than morphine and heroin,” Hussein said in a Sinar Harian report.
“Fentanyl is the leading cause of deaths due to overdose in the United States and Canada,” he said during a press conference at the Selangor police headquarters in Shah Alam.
He said the 961.8kg of fentanyl seized had a market value of RM30.7 million.
Hussein said the distributor’s modus operandi was to ship the drug via Port Klang using false declarations before splitting it into two consignments for delivery to different groups.
Investigations revealed the fentanyl was processed into both liquid and powder form before being distributed.
“The powder was turned into pills, while the liquid was used as an additive for electronic cigarettes (vapes),” he said.
Hussein also said police seized 1.7 tonnes of various drugs – mostly methamphetamine – with an estimated market value of RM54.18 million during six separate operations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor over the past two months.
He said the police’s success was the result of months of intelligence work, which included cooperating with foreign agencies.
He said some syndicates had only been active for two months while others had been operating for nearly 10 months.
Hussein stressed that police would not compromise with anyone involved in drug activities and called on members of the public with information on drug distribution activities to contact NCID’s hotline at 012-208 7222.
