KUALA LUMPUR: Bukit Aman will continue to cooperate with Australian Federal Police (AFP) over the arrest of a Malaysian in connection with a seizure of over RM431.8mil worth of heroin.

       Federal Narcotic Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Comm Datuk Razarudin Husain said they were working together with the AFP on the case.

       "We will continue to do the needful to ensure that drug distribution and smuggling activities are combated without compromise.

       "We are working together with the AFP in conducting further investigations into this case," he said in a statement on Sunday (Oct 17).

       It was reported that Australian police had seized the largest heroin shipment ever detected in the country, worth an estimated A$140mil (RM431.8mil), and arrested a Malaysian man.

       Australian police said the 450kg shipment – as heavy as a grand piano – was detected in a sea freight container of ceramic tiles sent from Malaysia and addressed to a Melbourne business.

       They accused was charged with importing and attempted possession of a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

       The maximum penalty is life imprisonment, said Australian police.

       The AFP was working with Malaysian police, said Krissy Barrett, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Southern Command.

       The interception of the heroin helped save 225 lives based on the police’s estimate that there is one death in the Australian community for approximately every 2kg of heroin consumed.