PORT KLANG: A team from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) managed to recover kretek (clove cigarettes) estimated to be worth RM70,000 from a boat that was abandoned after a high-speed sea chase.
MMEA Southern Maritime Region head First Admiral (Maritime) Che Hassan Jusoh said the team had been patrolling the waterways outside Port Klang when they noticed a local fishing boat about five nautical miles off the shore.
The fishing boat sped off as the MMEA boat approached and a high-speed sea chase ensued through the Kering straits near Pulau Ketam.
The boatman and an accomplice beached the 10m-long boat in the mangrove swamps on Pulau Ketam and took off on foot, leaving behind 82 bags filled with 1,256 cartons of the cigarettes, he said.