Perlis customs foil bid to smuggle in 150kg ganja by sea

The Perlis customs department foiled an attempt to smuggle in 150kg of ganja with an estimated market value of RM650,000 on Aug 16.

Perlis customs director Ismail Hashim said the seizure was carried out on Wednesday, when officers conducted a raid on a fibre-glass boat without a registration number, docked near the Kampung Bahagia fishing jetty, at 7.50am.

"In an inspection of the boat, customs officers found seven boxes wrapped in black plastic, hidden in a compartment in the boat flooring.

"We found 150 packages of compressed ganja chunks in the boxes, weighing about 150kg," he said.

He added that the drugs were worth RM649,000, and could be used for 750,000 addicts. They are believed to have been for distribution in the northern region.
 
A boat and an outboard engine worth RM40,000 were also seized, he said.

Ismail said the case was being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

He did not rule out the possibility that smugglers had used a "tonto" service to trail the whereabouts of the authorities and tip off wrongdoers to avoid being caught.

"Our initial intelligence showed a boat had entered the country’s waters, but the suspect had fled. We waited for 30 minutes but there was no sign of any suspects at the site," he said.