Malaysian police are tracing a syndicate that recruited five Malaysians detained in Jakarta for smuggling synthetic drug etomidate inside shoe insoles.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) are tracing a drug trafficking syndicate in the country believed to have recruited five Malaysians as drug mules before they were detained by Indonesian authorities in Jakarta last Friday.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (JSJN) director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the suspects, four men and a woman aged between 21 and 30, were detained at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
He said they were suspected of attempting to smuggle five kilogrammes of synthetic drugs of the etomidate type, concealed in the insoles of their respective shoes.
“An inspection was conducted on the suspects after Indonesian Customs and Excise officers became suspicious of the movements of the five individuals.
“Initial checks found that each of them was carrying two packets of powder suspected to be etomidate, weighing about 500 grammes per packet,” he said when contacted today.
Hussein said PDRM had received information from the Directorate of Narcotics Crime (Dittipidnarkoba), Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), Indonesian National Police (POLRI), regarding the detention of the five Malaysians.
He said the arrests involved three individuals from Sarawak and two from Pahang, with one of the suspects having three previous criminal records related to drug offences, while the other four had no previous records.
According to him, smuggling involving etomidate was a new trend detected by the authorities.
The media previously reported that the five suspects were detained shortly after landing in Jakarta on a flight from Kuala Lumpur on Sept 25.
Following their detention, Indonesian authorities uncovered a secret laboratory producing vape liquid containing drugs at an apartment in North Jakarta.
