M'sian police raid international drug syndicate & seize 18 tonnes of drugs worth S$490 million

That's a lot of ketamine.

Tan Min-Wei

December 21, 2025, 06:07 PM

Malaysian police have made one of their largest ever drug busts, seizing over 18 tonnes of drugs said to be worth almost half a billion dollars.

On Dec. 20, Bernama reported that Malaysian police announced the uncovering of a drug-processing laboratory believed to have been operated by an international syndicate.

The syndicate was the subject of four raids in the Klang Valley, an area that includes Kuala Lumpur and surrounding towns, which saw six people arrested.

Four raids

World of Buzz detailed the results of three of the raids, saying that the first raid had yielded three kg of liquid suspected to be MDMA in six bottles.

The second raid found 738kg of a white powder that was suspected to be cocaine, as well as 3,303 kg of suspected liquid cocaine.

It also found various pieces of drug-processing equipment.

The third raid found 3,024kg of a substance suspected to be ketamine, along with 10,067 kg of liquid suspected to be ketamine.

The fourth found 1,402kg of powder suspected to be ketamine, separated into 1,400 plastic packets.

The director of the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (JSJS), Hussein Omar Khan, said that 18,537kg of cocaine, ketamine, and MDMA were seized in total.

Harming 68.5 million users

Hussein estimated the drugs’ worth to be RM 1.53 billion (S$490 million), and capable of harming 68.5 million users, a number that is almost double Malaysia’s 34.1 million population.

He said that the drug lab uncovered was the largest that the Malaysian police had ever raided, and that the syndicate operating it was believed to have been active since April 2025.

The syndicate was focused on international markets, especially in eastern countries, and, according to investigations, had already successfully smuggled drugs it had produced to target countries several times.

He also revealed that six people between the ages of 24 and 39 had been arrested, including three local men and three foreign women.