TUMPAT: The Marine police seized 800kg of ketum leaves worth about RM80,000 in an operation here last night.
Five people, including two women, were arrested in the operation at Kampung Geting.
Marine police third region commander Assistant Commissioner Norzaid Muhammad Said said the ketum leaves were seized from a house and a car.
"A marine team who was part of Ops Benteng, raided the place at about 10pm following tip-offs.
"When they arrived at the place, the marine officers saw two men carrying packages from the house into a waiting car.
"After inspecting the car, they found 11 plastic bags containing the ketum leaves and detained the duo," he said in a statement.
Norzaid said upon further checks inside the house, they found another 2,983 plastic bags also containing ketum leaves.
"They later detained three people including two women," he added.
He said initial investigations showed that the ketum leaves would be distributed locally.
He said the five, all locals aged between 20 and 30, were being held for further investigations.