KUALA LUMPUR — A TikTok job scam promising easy money has landed four young Malaysians in serious trouble after they were caught trying to smuggle RM8.3 million worth of ganja to Manchester through Penang International Airport.
The four — two men and two women in their 20s from Johor — were detained by the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) last Monday when airline staff flagged suspicious luggage during a secondary scan.
AKPS director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said the arrests came after one of the couples was denied boarding and their bags were rechecked. Scans later revealed 86 kilogrammes of compressed ganja hidden inside.
“Both couples had travelled from Johor to Penang by bus and stayed at several hotels in George Town before preparing to depart for Manchester,” he told a press conference today, as quoted by Bernama.
“They are all still young. One is self-employed, another works as an e-hailing driver, while one is in the oil and gas sector.”
Further investigations led to the arrest of another couple who had checked in earlier for the same flight.
“The first pair managed to board the flight to Manchester as promised, while the second couple only realised later that their tickets went as far as Singapore,” Shuhaily said.
Airline staff subsequently contacted AKPS officers to accompany the second pair to retrieve their luggage. When scanned at the arrival hall, the bags revealed suspicious packages — later confirmed to be ganja.
Preliminary investigations found that all four suspects had accepted job offers via TikTok, where they were promised between RM8,000 and RM11,000 to transport “goods” overseas.
Shuhaily warned that syndicates are increasingly exploiting social media to recruit unsuspecting couriers.
He urged the public to be wary of online job offers that sound too good to be true.
All four suspects are being held at the Penang Customs State Prevention Complex. The case has been handed over to the Royal Malaysian Customs Department’s Narcotics Division for investigation under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment upon conviction. — November 6, 2025