Customs foils attempt to smuggle cigarettes hidden in fish barrels

JOHOR BAHRU: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department foiled an attempt to smuggle cigarettes to neighboring countries in barrels of fresh fish to evade the authorities in an inspection at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex here on May 3.

Johor Customs director Sazali Mohamad said Customs enforcement officers and personnel from the Department of Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (MAQIS) stopped a three-tonne lorry driven by a 60-year-old local man accompanied by a 30-year-old conductor at 6.20 pm.

He said the inspection found 257,400 stubs of contraband cigarettes worth RM61,776 hidden in 12 barrels of fresh fish in the lorry.

"The inspection was done after we found there was something amiss in terms of the quantity applied for in the permit based on the weight of fish, and the number of barrels used.

"Logically, the number of barrels used can hold about 1.3 tonnes of fish, but the permit applied for is only 700 kg," he said during a press conference at Menara Kastam here today.

He said, however, investigations on the driver and the conductor found that both of them had no knowledge of the syndicate involved, and were released on bail.

Sazali said the police were now investigating the exporting firm based in Kulai as well as the shipping agent involved in declaring the fishes obtained from around Pontian, and the case is being investigated under Section 135 (1) (a) and Section 139 of the Customs Act 1967.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, Sazali said the Customs seized 117 boxes of firecrackers and fireworks worth RM103,372 including taxes in a raid on a house in a village in Segamat on May 5.

He said a local man and woman aged 31 and 32 were also arrested in the raid at 1.45 am.

The case is being investigated under Section 135 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967.

-- BERNAMA