IPOH: Police are keeping an eye on vehicle-towing activities after busting a drug trafficking operation worth more than RM23mil.

       Drug syndicates are now using tow truck services on the pretext of towing cars, according to Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Razarudin Husain.

       “It is a new modus operandi. We will conduct more inspections on tow truck activities after this, ” he told a press conference at the Perak police headquarters here yesterday.

       Razarudin said that during an evening operation at the East-West Expressway in Gerik on June 26, police stopped a tow truck that was towing a car in which about 448kg worth of drugs were found.

       “We found 447 packets of drugs, believed to be methamphetamine and ketamine, ” he said, adding that a 58-year-old man and his son, 27, were arrested.

       “They managed to deliver drugs to Kedah earlier, ” he said, adding that it was the biggest drug bust in the state this year.

       He said the drugs, believed to be from Thailand, were meant for the local market and also to be distributed to other countries such as Australia and South Korea.

       “We estimate that the drugs could be used by over two million addicts, ” he added.

       Razarudin said both suspects, who had no criminal record and tested negative for drugs, had been remanded until July 3.

       “We are now keeping an eye on the local ‘kingpin’ of a syndicate, ” he said.