Its director, Khaw Kok Chin, said all three suspects, aged between 41 and 58, were arrested in a raid on a terrace house in Bandar Sri Damansara at 11.20am on Tuesday, Bernama reported.

“The modus operandi of the syndicate, which has been active since early December 2023, is to use a rented terrace house to store drugs before distributing to the local market and exporting to Indonesia.

“Police are still tracking the syndicate’s leader. It is believed that all these drugs were brought in by land from neighbouring countries in the north,” Khaw told a press conference here today.

He said the three suspects received payments ranging from RM10,000 to RM50,000 per month for storing and distributing drugs for both local and international markets.

During the raid, police found a plastic package of Chinese tea containing crystal powder suspected to be methamphetamine and slabs suspected to be ketamine in one of the rooms in the house.

Additionally, 10 white sacks containing 250 packages of Chinese tea filled with ketamine were found in the rear passenger seat of an MPV.

Two sacks containing 30 Chinese tea packages filled with ketamine and 15 packages of shabu were found in the second-row rear passenger seat while 13 white sacks containing 260 Chinese tea packages filled with shabu were in the boot.

Khaw said the total seizure comprised 287.27kg of shabu and 289.45kg of ketamine, with an estimated value of RM23.67 million.

He said police also seized a Mercedes Benz E240, a BMW 523i, a Honda City, RM23,000 in cash and a Rolex watch, bringing the total value of the assets seized to RM140,000.

He said all the suspects were remanded for seven days from Feb 12.