KOTA KINABALU: Smugglers in Sabah’s south-western Papar district, about 40km from here, thought they could fool the authorities by hiding contraband items in an abandoned and broken-down container lorry.
They had locked the container with a padlock and left it idle in an open space at Kampung Mikik, hoping no one would think much of it.
The police, however, discovered their ruse after being tipped off on Wednesday (Feb 14).
Sabah Region Four Marine Police Commander Asst Comm Ahmad Ariffin said, together with the district Criminal Investigation Department, they found the vehicle at about 7pm under an operation dubbed “Ops Landai Gelora”.
He said they proceeded to remove the padlock with a bolt cutter and found cigarettes and alcoholic drinks inside the container.
“We found 505 cartons of alcohol and 101 packs of cigarettes, all with unpaid duty, worth some RM840,000,” he said when contacted on Friday (Feb 16).
ACP Ahmad said the items have been brought to the operations base in the Sabah capital in order to be handed to the Customs Department for further investigations.
He thanked the public for assisting police in the case, requesting the same cooperation in future.
