Syabu accounts for 70% of drugs smuggled into Malaysia through Thailand

Malaysian authorities have revealed that about 70% of the drugs entering the country via the Thailand border are methamphetamine, according to Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan. The country is also being targeted as a potential transit point and hub for drug syndicates, who may use Malaysia to process narcotics before exporting them to countries like Indonesia and the Philippines. Cannabis flower, on the other hand, is largely smuggled to Europe due to the high demand there.

Hussein stated that most of the drugs entering Malaysia through the Thailand border are subsequently smuggled to other countries, with only a portion of them being taken out of Malaysia to European nations. He emphasized that Malaysia remains a critical transit country and that police continue to work closely with authorities in Thailand and Indonesia to combat drug smuggling, which includes intelligence sharing and monitoring attempts by syndicates to establish drug-processing facilities in the country using precursor chemicals.

Police have intensified their efforts to dismantle drug laboratories and disrupt the smuggling operations. In August 2026, the NCID conducted a raid on a large-scale drug-processing laboratory in Puncak Alam, Selangor, during Operation Eumenes, seizing over 13 tonnes of MDMA in liquid and powder form, as well as other drugs estimated to be worth an estimated RM2.4 billion.