KUANTAN: They grew up at Felda schemes near here before moving to live elsewhere, but a year ago, the four men, including a pair of siblings, had returned about a year ago to do "business" at Felda settlements.
However, their lavish lifestyle funded by drug activities at Felda settlements here came to a sudden halt when police crippled the four-member syndicate in a series of raids on March 24.
Police arrested four men aged between 32 and 42 years old and seized drugs worth RM76,176 along with cash, luxury watches, jewellery, three cars and eight motorcycles including high powered motorcycles worth more than RM500,000.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team from the state Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department ambushed a house at Taman Sri Mahkota Maju here and arrested a 32-year-old man about 5pm on March 24.
Pahang police chief Datuk Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the suspect was busy packing syabu and sorting out the drugs which were meant for distribution during the raid.
"Less than two hours later, police detained another suspect at the same settlement. Investigations revealed the 42-year-old man was the mastermind involved in distributing the drugs at Felda settlements here.
"About 10.15pm, police arrested a 32-year-old suspect who was waiting in a car at the Gambang toll plaza car park. Police seized heroin and syabu from the suspect who is responsible for bringing the drug supplies from the Klang Valley to Kuantan," he told reporters today.
Ramli said about 11.30pm, police arrested the fourth suspect in front of a bus stop in Gambang.
"The 34-year-old is the younger brother of the second suspect. He works as a 'drug runner' for the syndicate to distribute drugs to the 'ports' in Felda settlements.
"Investigations revealed the syndicate has been active for about a year and we have managed to break the entire supply chain by arresting the mastermind, supplier, person in charge of packing the drugs and the 'runner'," he said.
Ramli said all the four suspects had previously lived in separate Felda schemes and realised there was a demand for drugs at the settlements, so they decided to venture into drug activities.
"Police seized drugs as well as cash, vehicles, jewellery and branded watches totalling RM636,092. The suspects, who have been remanded till April 1, are being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (for trafficking), which carries a death sentence upon conviction," he said.
