Two Malaysian couriers arrested for trafficking large sedative pill shipment at Kuching airport

Two men, aged 25 and 39 and both from Miri, were arrested at Kuching airport after police found a large quantity of Erimin 5 tablets in their luggage on Sept. 28. The suspects had flown in from Senai International Airport and were taken into custody by the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department. The younger individual, who is unemployed, tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine and benzodiazepines and has three prior convictions, including one drug-related; the older man, a fisherman, tested negative and has two previous criminal records.

Authorities say the duo have been transporting the sedatives from Johor Bahru to Kuching since August, earning RM5,000 per shipment, and that this was only their second delivery. They have been remanded for eight days and charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, facing either the death penalty or life imprisonment, with possible caning if not sentenced to death. Police are also pursuing the individual believed to have hired them.