BUTTERWORTH, Sept 17 — The Penang Royal Malaysian Customs Department seized two containers carrying smuggled cigarettes, worth over RM7 million, at Port Klang on August 15 and August 20.
Its director Datuk Rohaizad Ali said the containers from Thailand were believed to have been headed for the Republic of Congo, Africa and were in transit in the port to transfer the goods to another ship before continuing its journey.
However, the activities of this syndicate were detected by the Customs Enforcement Division's Operations Unit, which then seized the container.
"A thorough inspection of both containers revealed 25.9 million sticks of white cigarettes, estimated to be worth RM7.77 million, including customs duty," he said during a press conference at the State Customs Prevention Complex in Perai today.
The container was also found to have made false declarations on the Transhipment Form (K6) by declaring the goods as handkerchiefs, towels, and tissues to deceive the authorities, when in fact it contained smuggled cigarettes.
Further investigations are still ongoing, including identifying the parties involved, and the case is being investigated under Section 52(1), Section 52(3), and Section 52(4) of the Customs Act 1967.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Rohaizad said the department conducted an operation that successfully uncovered cigarette smuggling activities in a factory in the Tupai Light Industrial Area near Taiping, Perak.
The operation on August 29 was carried out by a team of officers from the Penang Customs' Enforcement Division's Operations Unit, based on information from the Customs Field Operations Combat Team (Cobra).
"The raid on the factory yielded over two million white cigarettes and 254,400 kretek cigarettes of various brands, suspected to be untaxed goods worth RM761,484, with a total duty involved of RM1.583 million," he said, adding that all the cigarettes were believed to be for the local market.
A local man in his 50s, who is the factory owner, was also arrested for investigation under Section 135 (1) of the Customs Act 1967.
