The Penang Customs Department detained an Indonesian woman and seized 5.788 kg of syabu worth RM1.4 million from her at the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas early yesterday.
Its director Zulkifli Yahya said the woman, in her 40’s, was detained at 2.15am after arriving from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
He said the drug was found hidden in her luggage bags when a Customs officer from the Passenger Inspection Unit conducted screening and became suspicious of the screen images of packages in the bags.
“On inspecting the woman’s two luggage bags, the officer found two packets containing white crystalline powder kept in the special compartment of each bag.”
Zulkifli said their intial investigation found that the woman had travelled from Indonesia on June 17 and was on transit at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before flying to Ho Chi Minh City, then she flew back to KLIA before
coming to Penang.
He said they did not dismiss the possibility that the drug was for the international market and further investigation was being carried out.
The woman is being remanded for 13 days to facilitate the investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty.
– Bernama