KOTA KINABALU: Sabah marine police have seized over RM8mil in untaxed goods and made 39 arrests from January to September this year.
Sabah Region 4 Marine commander Asst Comm Ahmad Amri Abd Rahman said this follows a series of raids and operations over the past nine months, with the latest one made in the early hours of Sept 2.
He said in this 4.15am raid, a team of patrol officers had noticed some men carrying goods from a boat onto a jetty at Kg Kombo, Jalan Leila in Sandakan.
“When our men approached, the boat sped off while people on the jetty immediately fled,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 4).
Inspections on the site found boxes of cigarettes left behind, said ACP Ahmad, adding that the cigarettes of various brands from the Philippines were worth around RM131,700.
The items comprising 97,800 cigarettes were taken back to the marine base as investigations under the Customs Act 1967 began, he said.
This latest raid brings the total cases recorded under the same act to 57 cases with raid values up to RM8,013,942.61, he said.
“We will continue to boost patrols and raids as well as increase enforcement, especially in hotpots, to curb smuggling and other related crimes,” said ACP Ahmad.
