SEPANG: They thought they could fool Customs by filling up a sea salt soap container with syabu, but for the two Iranians who tried to smuggle in the drug worth RM800,000, they now face the death penalty.
On the pretext of bringing sea salt soap for personal use, the duo tried to cheat KLIA Customs Department enforcement officers but their suspicious behaviour gave them away.
Both the suspects had claimed to be students studying in a private college in the city when they arrived on Sunday morning from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
"When their luggage was put through the scanning machine in the airport, the suspects' facial expression turned them in.
"The officers saw the bottles in their bag, and when we took the bottles out, we knew we had to inspect the substance contained inside," said Customs Department assistant director-general (Enforcement) Datuk Zainul Abidin Taib, yesterday.
A run through a drug-test kit confirmed the powder to be methamphetamine.
The suspects, aged 23 and 30, had been remanded for seven days from yesterday, to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, a charge carrying the mandatory death penalty if convicted.
Zainul said this was not the first time smugglers were using the soap or cosmetics trick.
"They come up with new ideas every time. We have had suspects trying to bring in drugs disguised as cosmetic products or hidden in containers bearing those labels."
However, he said, this is the first time the suspects were coming from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
"Usually we will check the passenger list of those travelling from Doha, but now it seems like the pattern is changing," Zainul said, adding that the Custom Department is on their toes on the changes and the situation is being analysed.
He added that the first two weeks of the year already saw six arrests made at the airport's entry point.
"Since the beginning of the year we have seized a variety of drugs weighing 19.5kg and worth RM4.87 million."
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