JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA - Police have solved the RM1mil syabu theft from the Johor police headquarters, arrested 18 people in the case and recovered some of the drugs.

Those detained included seven police personnel.

Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said the latest arrests of two men aged 23 and 40 led to the recovery of an undisclosed amount of liquid and powder believed to be the stolen syabu.

He refused to specify how much of the drugs had been recovered, saying that he would wait for the chemical report first.

"The men were arrested at about 10.50am on Aug 15 at a roadblock on the North-South Expressway in Jasin, Malacca."

One of them even offered a RM450 bribe to policemen and was arrested for bribery as well.

He said that white powder and two bottles of brown liquid believed to be syabu, along with 67 Eramin 5 pills, were discovered in their car.

Police also found some equipment, believed to be drug-processing tools, in the vehicle.

Mohd Mokhtar said the suspects were being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for drug trafficking.

Mohd Mokhtar said the drugs were recovered when police raided an apartment in Taman Johor Jaya after the arrests of the two.

"There, we recovered two bottles and a tin of liquid believed to be syabu, a bottle of spirit, a bottle of thinner and a bottle of turpentine," he told a press conference here yesterday.

He added that both the suspects had previous drug-related criminal records.