KOTA KINABALU: A total of RM224.8mil worth of goods, including smuggled subsidised items, were seized by the state's General Operations Force (GOF) between January and June this year.
Sabah GOF brigade commander Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Rani Alias added that they also arrested 487 individuals during the same period.
The arrests and seizures, he explained, were made through a series of coordinated operations conducted, including Ops Taring ESSZONE/Daratan, Ops Kontraban, Ops Bersepadu Khazanah, Ops Hazard (e-waste), and various road checkpoint inspections (RCP).
He attributed these achievements to the strong collaboration between multiple battalions, namely BN14 Tawau, BN15 Sandakan, BN16 Kota Kinabalu, BN17 Lahad Datu, BN20 Beluran, BN21 Keningau, and BN22 Kunak, as well as other enforcement agencies.
“A total of 268 raids were conducted over the six-month period, resulting in arrests involving both locals and foreigners.
“Of the total, 282 individuals were foreign nationals from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, and India, detained for various offences,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (July 3).
Among the items seized during these operations were vehicles, frozen food, alcoholic beverages, contraband cigarettes, firearms, e-waste, and crude palm oil (CPO).
“The highest-value items included vehicles (RM40.8mil), contraband cigarettes (RM40.6mil), e-waste (RM48.8mil), firearms and fireworks (RM20.3mil), frozen food (RM13.1mil), CPO (RM1.9mil), and petrol and diesel (RM361,253),” he said.
He added that operations also succeeded in dismantling several smuggling syndicates involved in the illegal trade of cigarettes, diesel, petrol, uncertified halal frozen meat and chicken,
