M'SIA BECOMES TRANSIT POINT FOR DRUG SYNDICATES

KUALA TERENGGANU (Malaysia), Jan 14 (Bernama) -- Having reduced the number
of local women from being used by international drug syndicates, Malaysia now
faces the probability it could be used as a transit point.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said international drug
syndicates could now be using women from neighbouring countries as 'mules' to
transport drugs in and out of the country.

"Sometimes, their arrival in Malaysia is to use this country as a
transit point," he said.

Syed Hamid estimated that between 60 and 70 local women -- most of them
highly educated -- were hired by international drug syndicates last year.

He was speaking to reporters after officiating the national-level
Women-Anti-Drug (Mawadah) programme in Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of the
east coast of Terengganu state in Peninsular Malaysia Tuesday.

Earlier in his speech, Syed Hamid said the National Anti-Drug Agency
statistics showed that between January and November last year, a total of 11,772
drug addicts were detected, in which 5,651 were new addicts and 6,121 were
repeat offenders.

-- BERNAMA