JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: Police blew the cover on a drug syndicate which made its "mules" swallow drug-filled condoms while entering from neighbouring countries.

In the raid, police seized an array of drugs with a street value of about RM1mil(S$420 000) and arrested a 55-year-old man.

The syndicate's activities were exposed when a unit from the state narcotics department raided a double-storey house that was used as a store in Seri Alam on Wednesday.

Police arrested the suspect, believed to be a Singaporean, and seized the drugs, S$11,290 (RM26,682) in cash and an automatic pistol with 56 rounds of ammunition.

Also seized were electrical appliances and a car bearing a registration number from a neighbouring country.

The drugs seized were 4.46kg of heroin, 0.344kg of syabu, 0.78kg of ketamin and 2,000 Eramin-5 pills packed in 200 packets.

Johor deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm I Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the suspect, believed to be a syndicate member, had rented the house for more than a month.

"We believe the drugs catered to local and overseas markets. The suspect is also wanted by Singaporean police for testing positive for drugs," he told a press conference at the state police headquarters here yesterday.

In a separate incident, police seized multiple sacks of illegal and pornographic VCDs and DVDs worth a total of RM280,000 following a raid of eight premises in the city.

Police raided four premises in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and the rest in Holiday Plaza on Friday and arrested 16 suspects, aged between 16 and 35, on Friday. SAC Tun Hisan said a total of 2,889 pornographic and 49,962 pirated VCDs and DVDs were seized.

"It is shocking to see under-aged youngsters being exploited this way.

"We have identified the mastermind, a Malaysian, and we expect to arrest him soon," he said, adding that the syndicate has been in business for more than a year.

He thanked the public for their cooperation and urged anyone with information to contact the police hotline at 07-2212 999 or the nearest police station.