KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian women who strapped drugs to their bodies were detained upon arrival at an airport in Japan last week.

It is learnt that the women, aged 20 and 22, concealed eight packets of syabu that weighed 1.5kg in their bras and sanitary pads.

Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said the women attempted to smuggle 1.5kg of syabu worth RM3.3mil before they were detained by Japanese Customs officers at the Haneda Airport.

“We already reached out to our counterparts in Japan.

“As the arrests were made by the Customs Department, Japanese police are also waiting for more information from them,” he told a press conference at the Ampang Jaya Police district headquarters on Monday.

A Japanese news portal reported that the women behaved suspiciously before Customs officers performed checks on them and discovered the drugs.

It is learnt that the women were co-workers at a hotel and were visiting Japan for the first time using a short-stay visa.

The portal also reported that Tokyo Metropolitan Police said the women were believed to have been instructed by a person in Kuala Lumpur to smuggle the drugs into the country.