A total of 161.76kg of marijuana and 800gm of syabu were seized in the raids, said Perlis police chief Surina Saad.

She said in the first raid at 10am on Aug 4, police arrested a suspect at a house in Kangar and confiscated 161.76kg of marijuana valued at RM404,400.

“In a follow-up raid carried out at 12.30pm at a residential area in Kangar, police confiscated 800gm of syabu valued at RM980,000,” she told reporters here today.

In a raid at 11.30pm the same day, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) together with counterparts from Bukit Aman detained three suspects linked to the syndicate but no drugs were found.

Surina said a fourth raid was carried out at 1.20pm in Kangar the next day where police seized 3.32kg of syabu. Police later arrested another suspect in the Padang Besar district. Again, no drugs were seized.

According to Surina, two more suspects, including the mastermind, were detained in the Padang Besar area at noon and 1.40pm on Aug 6.

She said the drugs were believed to have been brought in from a neighbouring country, and Perlis was being used as a transit point before the drugs are distributed elsewhere.

“We believe the syndicate has been active since July and were distributing the drugs using land transportation, including their own vehicles to avoid detection by the police, and that they rented houses to store the drugs.

“We also believe the mastermind had been recruiting locals as runners,” she said, adding that a few more suspects are expected to be picked up soon.

She said the suspects, aged between 27 and 51, were found to be positive for methamphetamine and had criminal records involving drugs.

A total of 10 motorcycles and three cars valued at RM389,000 were confiscated.

All the suspects have been remanded for seven days until Aug 13 to assist in the investigation. They are being investigated under Section 39B and Section 15(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.