BUTTERWORTH: At a glance, the liquor bottles appeared genuine, neatly stacked on shrink-wrapped pallets inside a warehouse.
Each bottle bore a Customs Department duty paid stamp with a QR code linking to a so-called official website.
However, upon closer inspection, the bottles carried identical serial numbers and some of the labels were peeling.
The liquor, in various amounts and brands, was part of RM3.6mil worth of contraband, including cigarettes and beer, seized during a raid on an unoccupied warehouse in Jalan Berapit last month.
State Customs director Datuk Rohaizad Ali said enforcement officers seized 86,800 sticks of cigarettes and 55,606 litres of beer and liquor, believed to be intended for the local market.
He said the stash was found inside the warehouse and on a trailer with a total value of RM3,606,065, including unpaid duties and taxes.
“The syndicate hid the items in an unoccupied warehouse to evade detection.
“The Customs duty stamp stickers on the liquor bottles were fake. The stickers are designed with tamper-evident features that tear when opened.
“No one was in the warehouse during the raid. We are now looking for the owner,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Rohaizad said the cigarettes and liquor were classified as prohibited imports under the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2023.
He added that the case was being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967 for possession of duty-unpaid or prohibited goods.
If convicted, offenders may be fined not less than 10 times the value of the goods or RM100,000, whichever is higher and not more than 20 times the value of the goods or RM500,000, whichever is higher, or jailed between six months and five years, or both.
