KUALA LUMPUR: Cigarette smugglers should face harsher legal action in a bid to deter such activities, says JT International Bhd general manager Khoo Beng Lee.
She said that the government could use the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) to handle these offences.
"These Acts could be used on smuggling offences, evasion of duty and fraud," she told reporters after presenting a survey on illicit cigarettes in Malaysia on Wednesday (Feb 15).
She said that law enforcement agencies must also keep up with the ever-evolving tactics of smugglers.
"These organised crime syndicates constantly change their modus operandi to avoid detection so it is important that enforcement efforts follow suit,” said Khoo.
She added that stricter transshipment controls introduced in Budget 2021 have greatly contributed toward reducing cigarette smuggling through ports in the country and urged the government to remain steadfast in maintaining these controls.
She said their most recent survey showed that illicit cigarettes made up 56.6% of all cigarettes sold nationwide last year.
Meanwhile, JTI Malaysia corporate affairs and communications director Saiful Bahari Mahpar said that the government of the Philippines proposed a Bill last year to declare cigarette smuggling as an act of economic sabotage.
"We are not saying that such a move should be done here but stricter penalties are needed to fight smugglers that are part of an organised crime network," he said.
Last year, two congressional leaders in the Philippines filed a Bill seeking to amend the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 to include and classify cigarette smuggling as economic sabotage.
Under the proposed law, cigarette smuggling carries stiffer and heftier penalties, including making the illicit trade non-bailable.
Under the proposed Bill, cigarette smugglers face a minimum of 30 years’ imprisonment but not exceeding 40 years, with no bail recommended.
At the same time, violators are obliged to settle a fine double the value of the seized smuggled items, plus the total amount of unpaid duties, and other taxes.
The present law there provides that persons or firms caught in possession of cigarette products that did not settle excise taxes face an imprisonment of 10 to 12 years’ imprisonment only.
