Seberang Perai Utara district police chief Radzi Ahmad said the syndicate sold drugs in the local market and also exported drugs using a courier service.

He said police got their break after a weeklong surveillance when they arrested the mastermind and his lover, aged 36 and 32 respectively, by the roadside in Bayan Lepas on the island at 2.30pm last Thursday.

“Following that, police raided a house in Taman Bagan, Butterworth, at 4.30pm and arrested the man’s parents, younger brother and sister-in-law.

“The four suspects picked up at the house were aged between 32 and 66.

“We then raided a courier company in Bayan Lepas at 6.30pm and seized 259gm of syabu,” he told a press conference at the district police headquarters here today.

He said police raided the family house again at 11.30pm the same day and confiscated 447 packets of MDMA powder weighing 13kg and 333gm of syabu.

Radzi said the drugs for the foreign market were hidden in cement moulds sent by courier service, with each delivery containing syabu worth RM10,000 to RM20,000.

“For the local market, the syndicate supplied MDMA-laced drinks powder to entertainment centres at RM150 to RM200 per packet,” he added.

He said the syndicate was believed to have been operating since June this year, raking in profits of hundreds of thousands of ringgit.

The two lovers and the mastermind’s parents were unemployed while the married couple were running a food outlet.

They have all been remanded for five days until Aug 9. The suspects tested negative for drugs but three of them had previous offences on record, he added.

The seized drugs could feed the habit of 3,319 addicts.

In another case, Radzi said police arrested a 26-year-old trafficker and seized drugs worth RM70,080 from a house in Mak Mandin near here on Thursday.

The man has also been remanded for five days for investigation.