Malaysia - Wet towels turn out to be soaked in cocaine

[RaverHippie]

Wet towels turn out to be soaked in cocaine


Drug syndicates have found a new way to smuggle in cocaine -- by soaking towels in the drug's liquid form and packing them in luggage.
The new method was uncovered by police on Thursday at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

State police Narcotics chief Assistant Commissioner Nordin Kadir said KLIA police spotted a foreign woman behaving suspiciously at the airport.

Checks showed she was carrying liquid cocaine worth about RM2.2 million.

He said the 36-year-old woman had flown in from Sao Paolo, Brazil after transiting in Dubai.
She was pushing her trolley laden with two bags at 3.30pm when police decided to check her luggage.

They found seven wet towels in one bag and three in the other bag.

"Tests later revealed that it was soaked in liquid cocaine," he told a press conference at the state police headquarters here yesterday.

He said the woman was single and ran a cybercafe in Brazil.

He said she had planned to travel by taxi to Bukit Kayu Hitam and then head towards Bangkok.

Each cocaine-soaked towel weighed about 1.5kg , each kg of cocaine can fetch up to RM250,000.

He said police were investigating if she was just a mule or directly involved in drug trafficking.

Nordin said liquid cocaine-soaked towels were one of the ways syndicates used to smuggle in drugs into the country as it was difficult to detect.

"She would have succeeded if we did not check her bags thoroughly."

He said an attempt was made in 2005 to smuggle liquid syabu using the same method.

The woman has been remanded for seven days.

source