Bukit Aman narcotics criminal investigation department director Kamarudin Din said the suspects, comprising five local residents and a permanent resident, aged 40 to 74, were arrested in three raids in Melaka, Johor and Pahang on Feb 21.

“In the first raid, a suspect was arrested in the Kota Syahbandar area while transferring drugs into another vehicle, and police seized 52kg of syabu and 31.5kg of ecstasy powder worth RM4.02 million.

“In the second raid, police arrested three suspects in Simpang Renggam, Johor. Two male suspects were arrested in Genting Highlands, Pahang, during the third raid and drugs were seized,” he said at the Melaka police headquarters today.

Kamarudin said the gang used land routes to smuggle drugs in from neighbouring countries in the north and distributed the drugs to Indonesia by sea.

He said all the suspects had a clear hierarchy of persons in charge, coordinators and runners.

“We believe this group has been active since mid-2023 and we are also investigating if there are still dealers at large, as well as other links.

“We do not rule out Pantai Klebang being used as a transit point by this group to ship drugs to Dumai in Indonesia,” he said.