KOTA KINABALU: When aquarium equipment and tea bags were sent from Kuala Lumpur to a courier company, the cops smelt something fishy – and landed a RM2mil drug haul.

       Police believe they have crippled a national drug syndicate operating in the state.

       They waited at a courier company in Inanam near here and arrested a 50-year-old man who went to collect the items on Jan 4, seizing three boxes with what was believed to be syabu weighing 33.62kg and valued at RM1.21mil.

       State deputy police commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun said the man had 17 previous convictions and had been in and out of jail many times.

       Following the arrest, he said police raided an office at the Aeropod commercial centre near the city on Jan 9.

       “Two boxes filled with syabu weighing about 21.78kg, and valued around RM784,000 were seized,” Jauteh said.

       He said the items were packed in boxes that were supposedly aquarium equipment and tea packets.

       “We also seized RM102,097 in cash from the unemployed suspect,” he said.

       He has been remanded until Jan 18 to facilitate investigations under the Dangerous Drugs Act.