Johor police bust drug lab, seize RM16.4m worth of narcotic‑laced vape cartridges

“ISKANDAR PUTERI, May 22 — Police busted an illegal drug processing lab that specialised in producing narcotic‑laced vape cartridges worth RM16.4 million were seized in three raids around Skudai and northern Johor Bahru recently. The raids carried out by the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 18 saw the arrest of four men, including the mastermind and chemist of the syndicate. Those arrested were aged 27 to 60. Acting Johor police chief Hoo Chuan Huat said those arrested were two locals and two foreigners. “Police raided premises in Taman Melawati and Taman Ungku Tun Aminah in Skudai that were used as a drug processing laboratory. “The third raid was carried out at a house in Taman Mutiara Emas near Skudai where a local man, believed to be the syndicate’s mastermind, was arrested,” he told reporters at the Iskandar Puteri district police headquarters here today. Hoo said other than being the mastermind, the fourth suspect was later identified as the syndicate’s operations financier. “The second and third suspects were the syndicate’s chemists, responsible for processing chemicals into drugs. “The first suspect acted as the syndicate’s runner,” he said. Hoo said that the total seizure was 94.76 litres of liquid methamphetamine and 14.61 kilogrammes of chemicals with an estimated value of RM16.40 million. Acting Johor police chief Hoo Chuan Huat (centre) with the seized narcotics at the Iskandar Puteri district police headquarters May 22, 2026 — Picture by Ben Tan He added that the drugs seized were estimated to be able to supply 120,649 addicts. “The syndicate is believed to have been active since early January this year. “Their modus operandi was to use shophouse premises as a drug processing laboratory and a place to process vape cartridges, before distributing them to the local market,” he said. The case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1952. Hoo said drug screening tests found two suspects testing positive for methamphetamine abuse, while the other two suspects tested negative for any narcotics. “The suspects were remanded for seven days from May 19 to 25. A check of past records found that two suspects had previous criminal offences,” he said, adding that police had also seized three Mercedes-Benz cars, a Honda Accord and a Volkswagen car, as well as RM49,400 in cash and S$9,770 (RM30,292). Hoo said the estimated total value of the seizures amounted to RM16.58 million, making the bust the biggest success in Johor for this year.

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