Kuala Lumpur, April 9 (NNN-Bernama) Malaysian police arrested 32 people, among them several chemists, and seized RM14 million worth of drugs, RM5.8 million in cash and several luxury cars valued at more than RM1 million when they busted a drug trafficking syndicate on Saturday, it was revealed Monday. (rm1=0.2898usd)

Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department Director, Datuk Abang Abdul Wahab Abang Julai, said the syndicate, regarded by police as big, was suspected to have been active in the Klang Valley, Johor and Kedah, and the drugs produced were of fine quality, he said.

"This syndicate had a wide international network and the drugs it processed were for the Southeast Asian market," he said.

He said the police found two drug processing laboratories during their raids and seized 80.6 kg of syabu.

Police also seized RM3,650,100, apart from S$327,000, US$220,000 and 300 yuan, and cash cheques for RM391,350 as well as bank accounts of RM338,383. They also seized eight luxury cars.

Abang Abdul Wahab said those arrested were aged between 20 and 63 years, and they included nine Indonesians. He said some of them were people who had garnered experience as chemists overseas.

"We have yet to arrest the mastermind of the syndicate, and believe remnants of the gang are still at large," he said.

Abang Abdul Wahab said the successful raids were the result of information given by the public and due to police surveillance.

He said the first raid was conducted on a house in Klang, Selangor, where 16 people, one of them a woman, was arrested and 67.48 kg of syabu in crystal form valued at RM12 million were seized.

In follow-up raids, three men were held in Taman Mesra, Klang, and 1.13 kg of drugs valued at RM205,000 were seized. In a raid at Kulai, Johor, a man was detained along with 12 kg of syabu valued at RM2 million.

Following the man's arrest, Johor and Selangor police conducted a joint operation in Johor and arrested 12 people.

"Several barrels containing a dangerous chemical were seized, along with equipment to produce syabu," Abang Abdul Wahab said.

He said the syndicate used interior areas such as oil palm estates and houses in sparsely populated new housing estates to prevent detection of their activity.

Such isolated areas could also prevent the odour emitted during the processing of drugs from causing any suspicion, he added.