Trader held for refusing to pay levy

BY NELSON BENJAMIN

SEPANG: A 31-year-old garment distributor was arrested after he swore at a Customs officer over the tax imposed on the goods he brought in, and refused to pay the levy at KL International Airport. 

The businessman railed against the officer even after he had been given a discount on the tax during the incident several days ago. 

The Indian national arrived from a four-hour flight from India. 

The Customs officer alerted airport security officials, who detained the businessman when he tried to leave the airport without paying the levy. 

Initial police investigations showed that the Customs officer had initially imposed RM160 import duty on the garments but later reduced the amount to RM50.  

The businessman was later released on police bail. 

In an unrelated incident, a 24-year-old Indonesian maid was gang-raped by five men in an oil palm estate in Sungai Pelek here several days ago. 

The maid was waiting at a bus stop to return to her employer’s house in town at 10pm after visiting a friend when a motorcyclist approached her offering to give her a lift home. 

Sources said the maid accepted his offer as it was getting late. 

But instead of taking her home, the motorcyclist took her to an oil palm estate in the pretext of meeting a friend. 

When they arrived at the plantation, there were four other men waiting there. 

The maid begged the men to let her go but they beat her up and took turns to rape her. 

The woman, who had bruises all over her body, managed to escape several hours later and sought assistance from a nearby police station. 

All five men, aged between 17 and 40, have since been remanded to assist in investigations.