PENANG police busted an international drug trafficking ring with the arrest of two local fishermen and seizure of 573kg of ganja worth RM1.43 million in two raids in Tanjung Bungah on Saturday.

Timur Laut district police chief Soffian Santong said acting on information and surveillance, a team from the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department, Timur Laut district police headquarters and marine police region 1 raided a hut near the beach at 1.40am.

“During the raid, police arrested a 54-year-old man and seized eight sacks containing 243 compressed slabs of ganja weighing 246kg worth RM612,000 while another suspect, who was steering a boat, tried to escape after realising the presence of police,” he told a press conference in George Town today.

“Quick action by the police team managed to arrest the 58-year-old man, about 600m offshore at 1.55am. On further checks on the fishing boat, police found 11 sacks containing 321 compressed ganja slabs weighing 327kg worth RM818,000.”

Soffian said investigations found that the syndicate obtained the drugs from a neighbouring country and uses the boat to bring them to Penang to avoid police detection.

He said the 58-year-old man is the leader of the syndicate and is believed to have been actively involved in the activities since July last year, making hundreds of thousands of ringgit in profit every month.

It is believed that the man processes and repackages the ganja in small quantities before selling it to buyers in Penang.

“During the raid, the suspects were busy unloading the drugs from the boat before being taken to the house to be stored and sold to buyers,” said Soffian.

Both suspects have previous criminal records related to drug offences and have been remanded for seven days until October 28 to assist investigations under section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. – Bernama, October 26, 2022.