MMEA foils attempt to smuggle controlled items to neighbouring country in Kudat

KOTA KINABALU: Enforcement officers have foiled an attempt to smuggle an array of controlled goods to a neighbouring country in an operation in Sabah’s northern Kudat district.

Acting on a tip-off, a patrol vessel from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) managed to intercept a boat that was headed towards the country’s borders and immediately instructed the skipper to stop at about 11am on Friday (Aug 26).

Kudat Maritime Zone director Commander Maurice Grenville Abeyeratne said the man instead acted aggressively by speeding off, making his way towards shallow waters, in the direction of a mangrove forest.

At about 1.10pm, he said, the MMEA patrol vessel eventually found the boat abandoned and hidden in between mangrove trees, about 0.2 nautical miles east off Tanjung Pegasan in the neighbouring Pitas district.

“In the boat, we found 20 oil drums containing about 4,000 litres of diesel, 60 packets of flour and 85kg of cooking oil,” he said, in a statement on Monday (Aug 29).

“We believe these controlled goods were meant to be smuggled into a neighbouring country,” he added.

Grenville said they estimated the seized items to be worth some RM68,000.

The items have been brought to the Kudat MMEA jetty for further investigations under the Control of Supplies Act 1961.

He urged the public to report any maritime offences to the Kudat MMEA operations centre by calling 088-611 858 or the Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 number.