KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN police said on Wednesday they had crippled a multi-million dollar international drug syndicate in southern Johor state, arresting 11 foreigners and two Malaysians.

Police seized 260kg of methamphetamines and chemicals used to manufacture the drug in a haul worth more than 44 million ringgit (S$19 million). They also confiscated 551,900 ringgit in cash.

'We arrested 13 men which included six Mexicans, four Singaporeans, one Canadian and two Malaysians in the raids,' national anti-drug chief Zul Hasnan Najib Baharuddin told reporters.

'We are still carrying out investigations, but it appears that we are now seeing a global trend in methamphetamines spreading through the region,' he said.

Zul Hasnan said police first raided a house and later a factory that had been operating as an illegal lab to make drugs for export to overseas markets.

'The raid is the biggest one so far this year and we are now on the lookout for the mastermind of the operation,' he said.

Local authorities are checking with global police agency Interpol to see if the foreigners arrested have prior criminal records, he added.