“The total seizure amounts to 1,188kg, or about 1.2 tonnes, with an estimated street value of almost RM38 million (US$9.38 million),” said Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, director of the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department, on Tuesday, as quoted by the New Straits Times. “The drugs could have supplied nearly six million users.”

The lab was based in a durian orchard near Jalan Teluk Bahang and protected by multiple layers of fencing, reinforced doors and round-the-clock CCTV surveillance. Two houses and an open hall within the 13-hectare farm had been rented through an agent for about RM80,000 a year to facilitate the operation, The Star reported.

The site was discovered following coordinated raids conducted by the police at three locations in Penang over the weekend, Comm Hussein said.

The first resulted in the arrest of three foreign men suspected to be chemists working at the lab while subsequent ones led to the main facility.

The lab was believed to have been run by an international drug trafficking syndicate, which shipped in chemicals and equipment from overseas and used Malaysia as a processing hub before distributing the drugs to both local and foreign markets, national news agency Named reported.

Police have also seized several vehicles at the site, including a four-wheel drive, a forklift, a Toyota Vios and an all-terrain vehicle, with a combined value of RM181,000. The case is still being investigated.