KOTA KINABALU: Suspected smugglers and illegal immigrants were nabbed in two raids in the waters off Semporna, early Saturday (April 25).
In the first operation, a speedboat travelling towards the Pulau Bohayan was stopped before marine police boarded the boat for inspection at around 7am, said the Sabah Region 4 Marine Police.
Inside, they found six boxes filled with 144 bottles of liquor believed to have been brought in from the Philippines, it said in a statement on Sunday.
The beverages, valued at about RM51,320 with tax, were confiscated while two men on board were arrested to facilitate investigations under the Customs Act 1967.
In the same area, marine cops and police from the Semporna Crime Investigation Department inspected a boat and nabbed seven people on board when they failed to produce any documentation.
The seven and their skipper were arrested, with all to be probed under the Immigration Act 1959/63.
