NIGERIAN NO BOOKWORM, AS CUSTOMS OFFICERS SEIZE DRUGS FROM SIX BOOKS

NILAI (Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia), July 22 (Bernama) -- A Nigerian man who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last night, carrying a suitcase with six heavy-set books, found himself booked by the customs department.

As it turned out, enforcement officers quickly discovered the 25-year-old student at a private college in Kuala Lumpur was no bookworm.

Concealed inside the six books were eight kilogrammes of the synthetic drug, methamphetamine, with a street value of about RM2 million (US$670,915).

Initial investigations revealed the man could have been linked to an international drug smuggling syndicate.

Department director Liah Omar said difficulty to turn each page of the books prompted further scrutiny, revealing a perforation in the middle which was then glued firmly.

"Clear crystalline substances were found when the pages were ripped. Initial tests showed they are methamphetamine," he said at a press conference at the customs branch office in Kampung Jinjan near here Thursday.

He said the man, who came to the country in 2008, had been remanded for seven days to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

The section carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Liah said the suspect had arrived at KLIA at 11.53pm from Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight before he was nabbed with the six books containing the drugs.
-- BERNAMA