Four held in raid on sale of illegal cigarettes

Seized items: Customs officers counting contraband cigarettes during the raid on several grocery shops in Taman Nakhoda, Batu Caves.

KUALA LUMPUR: Customs officers swooped on four outlets in the Batu Caves area of Selayang in a simultaneous raid and arrested four retailers for selling illegal cigarettes.

Four teams were deployed under the Customs Department’s Ops Pacak campaign on Tuesday night which targets “hot spots” where smuggled cigarettes are sold. The illegal cigarettes seized were the John, Gudang Garam and Luffman brands.

On Monday, Customs officers conducted Ops Pacak raids on several outlets in Seberang Prai, Penang.

A mini-market operator in Bukit Mertajam was arrested, and John cigarettes were seized from his shop.In other raids held earlier this week, a woman was arrested in Bachok, Kelantan after cartons of Nusantara Red, Suria Gudang Garam and John cigarettes were found in her sundry shop.

Two retailers were picked up from their shops in Taman Indah Jaya, Ipoh, and Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan, for selling John cigarettes.