LAHAD DATU: Two boats smuggling 40,000 cigarettes and 600 litres of petrol were seized off Felda Sahabat here on Wednesday (Sept 23).
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) intercepted the boats south of Tanjung Sinakut following intelligence gathered under Op Sejahtera 1/2022 and Op Tiris 4.0.
Lahad Datu Maritime Zone director Dzulfikhar Ali said the first boat was intercepted at 8.26am and the second at 9.14am.
“When our patrol boat approached the two boats, two adult men from each boat jumped into the sea and fled towards land,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 24).
Checks on the first boat found 24 containers holding about 600 litres of petrol.
The second boat was carrying about 40,000 illicit cigarettes, seven cooking gas cylinders and 20 empty 25-litre fuel containers.
Dzulfikhar said the boats were believed to have played different roles in the smuggling operation.
The first was believed to have been transporting petrol to a neighbouring country, while the second was believed to have been preparing to collect fuel for smuggling and resale there.
The total value of the seizures was estimated at RM65,700.
Both cases are being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, while the illicit cigarette case is also being investigated under the Customs Act 1967.
Authorities took the boats and seized items to the Felda Sahabat Maritime Post jetty for further investigation.
