Three Indians held with drugs in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 10: Malaysian airport customs police have arrested three Indian nationals and seized 66.4 kilograms of the drug ketamine worth some 1.2 million ringgit (USD 350,000), a news report said Thursday.

The drugs were seized Tuesday while the suspects were in transit at the Kuala Lumpur International Aiport. They were bound for Bali island in Indonesia, said customs Assistant Director General Mohamad Hassim Pardi.

The three suspects, aged 25 to 35, had arrived from Bangladesh, he said.

"My men had received a tip-off that they were carrying illicit drugs in their luggage. The three were arrested while waiting for their connecting flight," the official was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.

"This is the second time that we have seized drugs in transit," Mohamad Hassim said.

He said 36 foreign nationals, 27 of them Indian nationals, have been detained for attempting to smuggle drugs since January.

He said the total value of the drugs seized since January was 45 million ringgit (USD 12.85 million), a 155 percent increase from the drugs worth 17.6 million ringgit seized in the entire year of 2008.

He said the suspects would be charged with drug trafficking which carries a mandatory death sentence by hanging.