The chief of the coastguard, Zubil Mat Som, said the drugs found on a boat in northern Penang state were worth around $26.2 million.

“It is a record seizure in the coast guard's 15-year history,” he said.

A suspected smuggler, a 26-year-old man who sailed alone, has been arrested.

From writing on the packaging, it is likely that the methamphetamine comes from the "Golden Triangle" – an area in the borderland between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos notorious for extensive production of drugs, especially opium, according to the Malaysian officials.

They think that the intercepted shipment is a part of the multibillion-dollar illicit drug trade that stretches across Australia, Southeast Asia and China.