Mohd Nasir (third right) and his senior officers showing the seized cigarettes.
KOTA KINABALU: A seemingly ordinary house in the east coast Semporna district has turned out to be a stash place for storing cigarettes smuggled from neighbouring countries.
Customs officers found over one million sticks of cigarettes of various brands at the residence in Kampung Kubang Jaya during a raid on Nov 24.
Sabah Customs assistant director-general Datuk Mohd Nasir Deraman said the cigarettes, worth RM183,520, carried an unpaid duty of RM510,168.
“We detained the house owner, in his 60s, to assist in the investigation," he told a press conference on Tuesday (Dec 5).
Mohd Nasir said they were probing the origins of the cigarettes, adding that the suspect is being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1976.
He urged the public to assist the efforts to weed out smuggling activities by channeling information to the Customs Department via its toll-free number 1-800-88-8855.
“The whistleblowers' identities will be kept confidential,” he said.
