BATU PAHAT: The Johor Customs Department has crippled several smuggling attempts involving cigarettes and liquor through four separate raids in Batu Pahat, Muar and Negri Sembilan.
The dragnet, carried out in June and July, resulted in seizures worth RM698,328.
State Customs director Aminul Izmeer Mohd Suhaimi said the first raid on June 11 at a house in Taman Bahagia, Batu Pahat, uncovered 22,560 sticks of white and kretek cigarettes of various brands, as well as 394.42litres of liquor with unpaid duties.
He said that in the second raid on June 25 at a house in Kampung Parit Kassim, Batu Pahat, 134,430 sticks of white and kretek cigarettes and 501.25 litres of liquor were found concealed in a room.
A third raid on July 6 saw Customs officers stopping a car along Jalan Kim Kee, Muar, carrying 39,600 sticks of white cigarettes, believed to be duty-unpaid.
In the fourth raid, an inspection of a car at a house in Bahau, Negri Sembilan, uncovered 64,800 sticks of cigarettes.
“We arrested four local men, aged between 20 and 60, during the raids,” he said, adding that the cases would be investigated under Section 135 of the Customs Act.
