Large haul: The contraband alcohol and cigarettes were seized by the Sabah Customs Department in several operations this month. — Bernama
KOTA KINABALU: Contraband alcohol and cigarettes worth more than RM5.4mil were seized by the Sabah Customs Department in several operations this month.
Sabah Customs assistant director-general Datuk Mohd Nasir Deraman said in the first case, his personnel seized two containers, filled with beer worth some RM1.017mil, that came into the Sepanggar Port near here.
He said the second case involved seizures of smuggled alcohol and cigarettes at a store at Kampung Ramayah in Penampang near here.
“Besides the items worth some RM1.078mil, we also seized a lorry and a van at the premises,” Mohd Nasir told reporters here yesterday.
Acting on information gathered from this operation, he added, Customs personnel raided a house in Penampang and found three lorries containing the same illicit items worth RM91,935.
Mohd Nasir said the third case involved the seizure of smuggled beer worth some RM1.82mil at the Sepanggar Port on March 15.
“These items were kept in four containers,” he said, adding that the fourth case saw two containers, also filled with beer worth RM434,050, seized at the same port on March 18.
“The modus operandi used by the smugglers involved making false declarations for the items in the containers.
“No arrests were made during the raids, but we are in the midst of tracking down the owners of the store and the vehicles seized, besides the people who sent the items,” said Mohd Nasir.
The untaxed items were seized after surveillance by the department’s Sepanggar Port import export branch and the Kota Kinabalu enforcement unit between March 6 and 18.
Mohd Nasir said investigations were conducted under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967.
