Traveling agency female boss held for drug

SEPANG, Malaysia: A businesswoman allegedly paid her staff to be drug mules and brought in 75kg of drugs said to be worth RM18.7mil (S$7.8 million) over the past four months.

The 43-year-old woman, who runs a travel agency, and three others were nabbed in a Customs sting, that also netted 3.3kg of syabu estimated to be worth RM825,000 on Feb 14.

One of those caught was her young Nigerian boyfriend who is a computer science student in a private college.

The other two were said to be her business partners, aged 25 and 27.
KL International Airport Customs deputy director Siti Baya Berahan said initial investigations found one of the women's employees had landed at the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) from Phnom Penh the night before and had slipped past the Customs checkpoint.

“We believe her staff abused the green lane facility and special treatment accorded to tour agencies to camouflage the illicit trade.

“Initial investigations revealed six of her staff, including a woman, had succeeded in smuggling drugs 25 times over the past four months using the modus operandi.

“Based on a rough estimate, they may have smuggled in 75kg of drugs worth RM18.7mil during the period,” she said here yesterday.

Siti Baya said the businesswoman and the Nigerian were nabbed at a house in Kepong while the other two men, who were employees of her travel agency, were detained at another location where Customs officers also seized a bag containing syabu hidden among clothes and children's toys.

“The four have been remanded to assist in the investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952,” she said.

The offence carries the death penalty if convicted.

Siti Baya said investigations showed each drug mule was paid RM3,000 when they returned from “familiarisation trips” to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Manila, Bangladesh, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Mozambique and Singapore among other destinations.

She said the police had detained six of the agency workers, aged 20 to 30, who allegedly acted as drug mules.

They would appear as prosecution witnesses.