Kuala Lumpur: Drug smugglers with a nose for the Middle East market couldn’t get past Malaysian Customs as its K9 detection dogs sniffed out deadly Captagon pills hidden inside containers of furniture at West Port on March 6.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) foiled an international attempt to smuggle the Captagon pills worth RM210 million through the March raid on containers in transit. Customs deputy director-general (Enforcement and Compliance) Siti Mang said during the raid, two containers inspected revealed 3.6 million pills suspected to be Captagon pills containing 626 kilogrammes (kg) of amphetamine.

She explained that the Captagon pills were hidden in secret compartments of the 25 pieces of sofa furniture found in the containers, which had been lying at the port for nearly three months and believed to be in transit before being sent to another country.

Siti Mang further elaborated that preliminary investigations found that the containers, declared as furniture, were brought in late last year from a Middle Eastern country and were to be re-exported to another Middle Eastern country. This tactic was used to mislead authorities in the respective country they were destined for. ‘The pills were concealed inside secret compartments within the sofa furniture and were only detected with the help of our detection dogs,’ she told a press conference at Wisma Kastam today.

She also mentioned that investigations are ongoing to determine if any individuals from this country are involved in the case, which is being investigated under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.