KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian vessel intercepted by Indonesian authorities with 1.16 tonnes of ketamine had taken delivery of the drugs from a foreign mothership in the Andaman Sea.
Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the foreign mothership was believed to be registered in a country within the Golden Triangle region.
"Based on information received from the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the drugs were loaded through a ship-to-ship transfer in the Andaman Sea," he told the New Straits Times.
A ship-to-ship transfer involves moving cargo directly between two vessels at sea without either having to dock at a port.
Such transfers are commonly used for legitimate commercial purposes, including moving oil and other cargo, but can also be exploited by drug syndicates to avoid port inspections.
Hussein said that while preliminary investigations indicated the foreign mothership had transferred the drugs to the Malaysian-registered MT Global 168, Bukit Aman was looking at the case from all angles.
He said police were investigating the case under Section 34 of the Dangerous Drugs Act for facilitating drug offences committed outside Malaysia, to establish whether there were any Malaysian links to the shipment.
The provision allows action to be taken against anyone who, while in Malaysia, assists or undertakes preparatory acts connected to drug offences overseas.
Hussein said Bukit Aman was also working with its Indonesian counterparts, who intercepted the vessel, which was sailing under the Mongolian flag, in waters off Tanjung Balai Asahan, Indonesia, on Oct 20.
On the vessel's movements, Hussein said MT Global 168 departed Pasir Gudang, Johor, in early October before stopping at Port Klang to refuel.
It then headed towards the Andaman Sea, with its Automatic Identification System (AIS) pinging its location off Aceh on Oct 15.
Between Oct 16 and 18, however, the vessel made unusual circular movements off Thailand's west coast, and its AIS was switched off for three days.
After the AIS was switched back on, the vessel was tracked in Indonesian waters heading towards Port Klang before it was intercepted by Polri, customs officials, the National Narcotics Agency and maritime police.
Indonesian authorities found 58 sacks containing 1,160 packages of ketamine hydrochloride weighing a total of 1.16 tonnes.
The drugs have an estimated street value of 3.48 trillion rupiah (US$192.64 million).
Yesterday, Hussein revealed that the vessel belonged to a company registered in Malaysia with an office address in Johor Baru.
He said the company had two Malaysian directors, aged in their 40s and 50s, neither of whom had previous criminal records.
Both directors will be called in to assist investigations.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd