SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA: A suspected drug courier driving while high on drugs led police in Selangor and Penang to major drug busts after he was involved in an accident near Hulu Bernam on Saturday.

Selangor narcotics chief Asst Comm Nordin Kadir said the 45-year-old man was heading south along the North-South Expressway and is believed to have lost control of his car and crashed in the 2.15pm accident which caused a seven-vehicle pile up.

He said the suspect, who sustained minor injuries and fainted following the accident, was sent to a nearby hospital and later tested positive for drugs.

Police later recovered from the vehicle a suitcase with 36 packets suspected to contain drugs.

The state narcotics department?s team sent to the site recovered 33 plastic packets believed to contain 16.5kg of heroin and three packets believed to contain 1.3kg of Ketamin.

The drugs recovered are estimated to have a street value of about RM900,000 and RM15,000, respectively.

ACP Nordin said the Selangor police contacted their Penang counterparts when detailed checks of the vehicle revealed various documents with a Penang address.

He said investigations in Penang led police to another bust with the discovery of a drug lab and store and four guns.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated case, a team from the Selangor narcotics department arrested two foreigners and recovered 497g of syabu estimated to be worth RM120,000 in Ampang on Friday.

ACP Nordin said the team acting on a tip-off had stopped the car at about 10.15pm and a search found a plastic bag with the drugs inside. The two men, aged 36 and 42, had been remanded till Saturday and were being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

Interrogation of the suspects led police to the arrest of two women just after midnight and the recovery of 497g of heroine worth about RM30,000 near Jalan Pandan Cahaya, Ampang.

He said the two women, a 29-year-old student and 51-year-old part-time maid, were believed to have been peddling the drugs in the Ampang area.

The two have been remanded until Saturday to help in investigations.