BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Customs Department seized nearly RM4mil worth of contraband cigarettes and alcohol in two separate operations in Penang.
State Acting Customs Director Ramizah Bee Salleh Ghany said that in the first raid on April 22, enforcement officers inspected a shop premises in Tasek Gelugor, believed to have been used as a storage facility for contraband goods.
"Acting on intelligence, officers raided the shop premises at about 11am. The inspection found 242,640 sticks of cigarettes of various brands, believed to be duty-unpaid, concealed inside a toilet and beneath piles of used boxes within the premises," she said at a press conference at the Bagan Jermal enforcement storage facility on Thursday (May 7).
Ramizah said the value of the seized contraband, including duties and taxes, was RM263,233.08.
She said all items were confiscated, and a man in his late 30s, believed to be the owner of the premises, was detained to assist in further investigations.
She said the seized items were believed to be intended for the local market.
She added that investigations revealed the shop premises had been used as a storage facility for duty-unpaid cigarettes, which were hidden in concealed locations to avoid detection by the authorities.
In another operation, acting on information from the public, Customs enforcement officers raided and inspected an unoccupied warehouse in Mukim Telok Wang, Bukit Mertajam, on April 24 at about 12.40pm.
She said that during the inspection, the team discovered a quantity of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages of various brands, suspected to be prohibited goods, stored inside the warehouse.
"All seized items were confiscated for further investigation. The total value of the seizure, including duties and taxes, was RM3,681,848.56," she said.
She said preliminary findings suggested that the cigarettes and alcoholic beverages were intended for distribution in the local market, and that the case remained under investigation.
She said the syndicate was believed to have concealed duty-unpaid cigarettes and alcoholic beverages inside the unoccupied warehouse in an attempt to evade detection by the authorities.
Ramizah said the department was still investigating whether both cases were connected and carried out by the same syndicate.
Both cases were being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967 for possession of uncustomed 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 for between six months and five years, or both," she said.
Ramizah said the cigarettes and liquor were classified as prohibited imports under the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2023.
