Malaysian police said today they had busted a major international drug syndicate, and seized amphetamines worth nearly US$4.0 million bound for Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

The director of the Federal Narcotics Department, Najib Abdul Aziz, said 21 people, including one from Hong Kong, were arrested in a series of operations Sunday in Kedah and Penang.

"We arrested 21 people and one of them is from Hong Kong," Najib told AFP.

"It is quite a big group involved with international connections, because they have these members from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the production is going to be distributed to other parts of the country and the world," he added.

He said the raids yielded RM13.4 million (US$3.68 million) worth of methamphetamines from a factory in Kedah, as well as 100,000 ecstasy pills worth RM1.0 million from neighbouring Penang.

Two Taiwanese sought

Najib said the syndicate was by overseen a Malaysian couple, a man aged 48 and his wife, 44.

He said police were also searching for at least two Taiwanese nationals involved in the syndicate and would contact their police counterparts in Taiwan after questioning the suspects about them.

"We have to get details of these people involved in Taiwan. We will be contacting (Taiwanese police) when we get the details," said Najib.

The Taiwanese "left the country before we decided to move in ... They came to see the factory and supervise the production," he added.