Single Malay women aged between 20 and 30 years topped the list of Malaysian women being used as drug mules in recent years.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said they represented 38 out of 61 women detained between 2006 and March this year for drug-related offences.

Another 85 Malaysian men were arrested for similar offences abroad.

He was replying to Senator Siw Chun Eam who had asked for the breakdown, in terms of race, of the women duped into becoming mules for drug syndicates.

She also asked about their age and whether they were employed.
Chor said the youngest detainee was 20-years-old while the oldest was 35.

He said the modus operandi of these syndicates involved foreigners who entered the country legally on a student or tourist visa. "They get to know these women before offering them jobs that promise them the world."

Chor said most of these women were smitten by the agents, which made it difficult for them to resist such offers. He said Malaysian police and Interpol had worked together against such syndicates over the years.

"Recently, police busted a syndicate comprising mainly foreigners and seized RM44 million worth of drugs such as cocaine and ketamine."

He said the ministry and Malaysian consulates were ready to help Malaysians detained abroad and often acted as middlemen between the detainee and his or her family in Malaysia.