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KUALA LUMPUR: Drug syndicates from Iran are now the main players in the region's syabu trade, revealed police. They have overtaken local syndicates and those from Africa and other Middle Eastern countries as the main supplier of the drugs.

Their status as the biggest syabu distributors here is based on the number of Iranians arrested and the high amount of seizures recorded.

Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department deputy director Datuk Othman Harun revealed police seized 358kg of syabu worth RM62 million (S$25.3 million) and arrested 70 Iranians in the first five months of this year.

Last year, 201 Iranians were arrested while 400kg of syabu worth RM70 million were seized, surpassing the number of arrests of other foreigners in the drug trade here.

"The local drug market has become a cosmopolitan scene with the inclusion of traffickers from Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, Philippines and Thailand," Othman said.

"But statistics showed that Iranian drug syndicates are the main players in the syabu market."

He gave several reasons for this:

Firstly, Iranian drug syndicates have the added advantage over other rival groups producing syabu as their methamphetamine was of a better quality which are sold at a cheaper price.

Secondly, the syabu brought in by Iranian syndicates is 80 per cent processed which meant there was no need to set up ... >>>