KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) this week arrested five men, including a Thai, who are allegedly part of the “pil kuda” (methamphetamine pill) syndicate in Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur.
In a statement, its director Datuk Seri Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said the arrests were part of raids jointly conducted with the Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group in Kelantan on Sunday and Kuala Lumpur on Feb 7.
“They were arrested for allegedly trafficking “pil kuda”.
“No drugs were seized in the operation. They were detained under Section 3(1) of the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act.
“Investigations are ongoing to (trace) the remaining syndicate’s members,” Mokhtar said.
The statement was issued in response to a report in the Thai newspaper ‘The Nation’ on a Malaysian drug suspect's possible link to Laotian Xaysana Keopimpha, dubbed the ‘Asean Drug Lord’.
‘The Nation’ reported on Thursday that Thai police had contacted their Malaysian counterparts, requesting permission to interrogate the suspect to probe a possible link to Xaysana's alleged drug network.
The suspect was arrested in Kelantan, weeks after Thai police nabbed Xaysana at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Earlier, Bernama reported that Thailand's Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) will be seeking the cooperation of Malaysian authorities to interrogate a man they detained recently, for possible links with the Asean Drug Lord.
According to NSB chief Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk, the suspect, who was picked up in Kelantan last Monday, is a dual holder of Malaysian and Thai citizenship.
Sommai told Bernama that the suspect has an arrest warrant for drug offences in Thailand under his Thai name, and that the arrest was made possible following information from Thai authorities.
Sommai did not discount the possibility that the NSB might request for the man's extradition to Thailand, but said the matter will ultimately be determined by the Narcotics Control Board.
Authorities believe the suspect was the head of a drug smuggling network in southern Thailand, which distributed drugs it received from the north and northeast regions of the country, said Sommai.
The request to interrogate the man in Malaysia signals the widening of the Thai investigation into the regional drug smuggling ring orchestrated by the 'Asean Drug Lord'.
Sommai said initial investigations revealed that upon receiving the drugs from northern Thailand, the suspect's network would smuggle it across the border into Malaysia for distribution to other parties.
He said the suspect is also linked to another wanted 'drug baron' in southern Thailand, who has a bounty on his head and remains a fugitive.
According to the NSB chief, he was also informed that Malaysian police seized more than 30 million Baht (RM3.8 million) in cash hidden in several locations of the suspect's house in Kelantan.
On Jan 19, Thai authorities arrested the 41-year-old 'Asean Drug Lord' at Suvarnabhumi Airport, following more than five years of a joint investigation by the Thai and Lao police.
The Laotian suspect ran a lucrative region-wide drug smuggling ring, which allegedly supplied drugs to several countries, including Malaysia and Singapore.