TUMPAT: A lorry driver has been arrested in Kota Baru while transporting smuggled cigarettes worth RM1.18mil.
Kelantan Customs director Wan Jamal Abdul Salam Wan Long said the 48-year-old man was arrested by a team from the Pengkalan Kubor enforcement branch on Oct 24.
"They tailed the bonded lorry for10 km from Palekbang, Tumpat to Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Kota Baru, before nabbing him.
"An inspection revealed there were 156 boxes containing 1,560,000 sticks of cigarettes worth RM140,400, with unpaid duties of RM1,034,640, at the back of the lorry," he told a press conference at the Pangkalan Kubor customs enforcement office here on Sunday (Nov 5).
He said the driver was paid RM550 to ferry the cigarettes from Kelantan to the Klang Valley.
The cigarettes are believed to have been smuggled into the country via sea routes, he said.
The suspect has been remanded for 10 days from Oct 24 to Nov 3. – Bernama
