Bukit Aman narcotics crime investigation department director Hussein Omar Khan said they included five women.

He said the arrests took place across 16 different countries and territories, with the highest number being in Indonesia (10), Singapore (nine) and Cambodia and Taiwan (six each).

The other locations included Thailand (five) and Belgium, Laos and Macau (three each).

Two suspects were arrested in Hong Kong and South Korea, while single arrests were made in the Philippines, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Myanmar and Norway.

“The use of members of the public as drug mules is a deeply concerning and growing trend that the NCID is addressing with the utmost seriousness,” Bernama reported Hussein as saying today.

He said drug syndicates were constantly seeking new victims and were willing to exploit anyone, regardless of their age, occupation or background.

The syndicates were known to recruit victims through social media and fake job advertisements, specifically targeting young people, job seekers, students, and individuals with unstable incomes.

The victims were lured with promises of lucrative payments ranging from RM1,000 to RM10,000, with offers often including free flight tickets and accommodation to perform simple tasks that required no prior experience.

“All of these offers are merely bait to deceive their victims into carrying luggage or packages that actually contain dangerous drugs,” he said.

He said the syndicates’ methods included concealing drugs in common items like luggage, electronics, and food, as well as using courier services and more high-risk techniques like “body packing”.

Their primary destinations were the UK, several European countries and several East Asian nations, coinciding with the syndicates’ increasing use of regional airports as transit points.

“The types of drugs commonly smuggled include methamphetamine, MDMA, cannabis and cocaine, depending on the smuggling route and market demand,” he said.