MELAKA, Oct 17 — The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) confiscated over RM10.3 million in cigarettes, alcohol, and imported rice worth smuggled into the country between April and October 1, said its deputy director-general Datuk Sazali Mohamad.
The seizures were carried out through inspections in several areas in the Peninsula, especially in Port Klang, as well as through surveillance patrols conducted by his team.
“We foiled four attempts to smuggle in a total of 11,754,000 sticks of white cigarettes, two attempts to smuggle in 33,420 litres of alcohol, and one attempt to smuggle in 11,940kg of imported rice during that period,” he said at a press conference in Ayer Keroh Wisma Kastam today.
The most significant success was the confiscation of a lorry laden with 5,084,000 cigarette sticks, worth RM3,802,832, on September 3 at the rest and services (R&R) area of the Ayer Keroh overhead bridge restaurant along the North-South Expressway (Southbound).
Sazali said an inspection was conducted on the lorry at 3.30pm that day, where a stash of cigarettes loaded into boxes wrapped in black plastic was found.
“To avoid detection, the lorry travelled during the wee hours of the morning. The lorry driver, in his 40s, was detained,” he said.
It is believed the cigarettes and alcohol were smuggled in from neighbouring countries through the waterways on the East Coast before being distributed to the southern areas (of the Peninsula) for the foreign worker market.
Sazali said another modus operandi used by the smugglers was to declare the imported goods as some other items and use unnumbered and dilapidated premises to carry out their liquor processing and bottling operations.
Those with information on smuggling activities can call the JKDM toll-free number at 1-800-88-8855 or contact the nearest Customs office.
— Bernama
