Johor police chief M Kumar said the state narcotics crime investigation department (NCID) arrested two men and a Vietnamese woman, aged between 25 and 29, in the first raid at about 7.20am.

“Two of the suspects were arrested in the parking lot of an apartment while the other was held at a hotel in the city.

“Various types of drugs were found in the apartment, namely 9.28kg of ecstasy powder, 74g of ketamine, 90 erimin 5 pills, 26 ecstasy pills, and 18ml of liquid ecstasy worth a total of RM1.56 million,” he told a media conference at the Johor police headquarters here today.

Police also seized two cars, RM15,450 in cash, and jewellery worth RM25,040.

Kumar said investigations found that the syndicate, which had been active since January, had mixed various types of drugs into instant drink packets to deceive the authorities before selling them for RM250 per packet.

Two of the suspects tested positive for benzodiazepines but only the woman had a drug-related criminal record.

Kumar said the Johor Bahru Selatan narcotics crime investigation division, together with Johor NCID, also arrested three men and a woman, aged between 17 and 42, in a second operation at an apartment at 4.30pm.

There, police seized 32kg of ecstasy powder, 13.50g of shabu, and eight erimin 5 pills worth RM5.38 million. They also confiscated a car, two motorcycles, and RM159 in cash.

“Our investigations found that the syndicate had been active since February and had a similar modus operandi, namely mixing a concoction of drugs into drink packets for the local market.

“One of the suspects tested positive for methamphetamine while two of them had prior criminal and drug records,” he said.

Those arrested in the two operations have been remanded until Wednesday. The cases are being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.