BATU PAHAT: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has thwarted an attempt to smuggle in clove cigarettes from Indonesia.
Batu Pahat Zone MMEA director, Maritime Commander Mohd Haniff Mohd Yunus, said the cigarettes were seized in the wee hours of Thursday (Dec 22).
He said officers from the agency were patrolling the waters off Kuala Batu Pahat during Ops Jaksa and Ops Sapu Air 2022 when they spotted a boat in the area.
"When our men approached the boat, it sped off towards the shore,'' Mohd Haniff said in a statement on Thursday.
He said two suspects jumped into the water and abandoned the boat which did not have a registration number, with the cigarettes on board.
"We discovered 25 boxes containing about 282,000 sticks of clove cigarettes,'' he said.
Mohd Haniff said the cigarettes, the boat and its engine worth a total of RM303,000 were brought to the Batu Pahat MMEA office.
"The case is being investigated under the Customs Act 1967,'' he said.
Mohd Haniff urged those with information on smuggling activities within the waters off Batu Pahat to contact the Batu Pahat Maritime Zone Operations Centre at 07-434 4020 or via the emergency helpline at MERS999.
