BUTTERWORTH – The Penang Customs Department has crippled a major cigarette-smuggling syndicate that attempted to bring in 9.65 million packs of contraband cigarettes worth RM772,000 with a customs duty of RM6.3 million.
State Customs director Abdul Halim Ramli said its Inner Investigations Unit made the seizure found in two containers at Port Klang last week.
“The modus operandi of the syndicate is to declare the items as carpets in the import manifest and Customs declaration forms.
“The department’s Inner Investigations Unit from the Penang branch stopped a container at Port Klang during its operations about 8.30pm on May 5, seized a container and arrested its driver in his 20s.
“The container and the driver were brought to the Enforcement Division in Penang for further investigations. We seized 4.95 million cigarettes with a value of RM396,000 and RM3.1 million in Customs duty,” he said.
He said on May 7, the same team seized another container, also in Port Klang, and seized 4.7 million cigarettes worth RM376,000 and RM3.1 milliom in Customs duty.
Halim said initial investigations revealed the consignments were brought in by a shipping and logistics company with an operations branch in Port Klang, with the consignments believed to be from an East Asian country.
He added investigations are ongoing to establish the importer of the seized goods. – The Vibes, May 11, 2021
