Sarawak Customs director Norizan Yahya (centre) showing the seized cigarettes at the department headquarters. - ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
KUCHING: The Sarawak Customs Department has seized contraband cigarettes worth an estimated RM11.88mil, including unpaid duties and taxes, from a warehouse here.
Sabah Customs director Norizan Yahya said enforcement officers, acting on intelligence from headquarters, raided the premises at Demak Laut Industrial Park at about 4pm on July 29 and seized 12 million sticks of undeclared cigarettes.
"The cigarettes were valued at RM3.6mil and the unpaid duties estimated at RM8.28mil," he told a press conference here on Wednesday (Aug 20).
Norizan said a local man aged 54 was arrested during the raid and subsequently released on a RM50,000 bond.
Initial investigations found that the warehouse was used to store undeclared items, he said.
The case is still being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act and offenders can be fined up to RM500,000, or jailed not more than five years, or both.
He urged the public to report smuggling activities to the Customs hotline at 1-800 888 855 or the nearest Customs office, adding that all information will be kept confidential.
