KOTA BARU – The Customs Department has seized contraband cigarettes worth more than RM500,000, including tax, after it raided a van parked in a village lane, here, on Wednesday.
State Customs director Mohd Nasir Deraman said that the seizure was made after the Kota Baru Customs Department Enforcement Division operations team conducted intelligence under Ops Benteng on a Toyota Hiace van, suspected to be used as a contraband cigarette storage area.
“At around 12.45pm on Wednesday (July 13), team members conducted the raid and found 82 boxes containing 671,000 sticks of contraband cigarettes of various brands stored in the van.
“All the cigarettes found were estimated to be worth RM98,650 with a tax value of RM452,725,” he said at a press conference at the Padang Bongor Customs Department office, here today.
He said that it was found that the cigarette smuggling syndicate deliberately used the vehicle as a storage place for contraband cigarettes to avoid being detected by the authorities before being distributed to local customers.
According to him, the case will be investigated in accordance with Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967 and within the first six months of this year, a total of 183 seizures of contraband cigarettes have been recorded.
“A total of 11 million sticks of cigarettes were seized involving a value of RM1.5 million and tax of RM7.4 million,” he said.
“Twenty-two individuals have also been arrested and charged in court in connection with such activities.” – Bernama, July 17, 2022
