Smugglers enticing hard-hit rural folk by winning hearts and minds

The comment was made following a series of reports that indicated a sharp rise of illegal cigarettes smuggling activities taking place in rural communities along Malaysia’s expansive and porous coastlines. It is found that there are too many small illegal jetties or illegal border route (lorong tikus) along Malaysia coastline. A recent case in point was the seizure of illegal cigarettes worth RM7.66 million from a small jetty in Endau, Johor, on 11 June by Polis DiRaja Malaysia.

Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic and the series of Movement Control Orders put into place have impacted the livelihoods of those in the rural communities. Taking advantage of this situation, criminal syndicates are tempting these villagers to play a part in their illegal smuggling logistic chain.

Some of these criminals even pose as ‘white knights’, contributing generously to renovate places of worship or to build public facilities to “win the hearts and minds”. It is not surprising that because of this, fishermen and farmers rather smuggle cigarettes than tend to their vocation.

It is more worrying to see that even some greedy and unethical law enforcement officers have fallen prey to this immoral scheme. “Smuggling syndicates either bribe or threaten enforcement personnel stationed in rural areas forcing them to turn a blind eye on their activities. If not stopped immediately and effectively , this dangerous eco-system can pose a serious threat to the socio-economic fabric of our rural communities.

The government has taken serious series of measures to curtail illegal cigarettes trade introduced in Budget 2021 including limiting transhipment of cigarettes to dedicated ports, imposition of tax on the import of cigarettes with drawback facilities for re-export and disallowing re-export of cigarettes by small boats but are forcing criminal syndicates to focus on smuggling through coastal areas instead of the ports.

The Budget 2021 measures are working to a certain extent. The Government must be steadfast in implementing them stringently as some quarters are pushing for a relaxation of selected controls, especially those related to transhipment. There is no reason to relax the controls on transhipment.

Criminals can be creative, and this can lead to their being more successful in their criminality. With criminals syndicates now changing their modus operandi to the coastal areas, waiting for the darkness of night to reengage in their lucrative cigarette trade, more enforcement measures must now be in place to stop it.

In addition to increasing patrol and vigilance, law enforcement personnel most also be equipped with technology, improve its intelligence-gathering capabilities, continuously conduct operations and closely monitored with a periodic rotation system in place as ways of reducing the temptation for corruption.

The government has announced that they have strengthened enforcement along the country's borders, especially in areas where there is a risk of having 'lorong tikus'. However, joint intelligence and joint operations have to be carried out sincerely and truthfully for the nation without any hidden agenda.

The price difference between illegal cigarettes and legal cigarettes must also be addressed affectively as this is one of the key factors criminal syndicates are doing all they can to circumvent the law. The more expensive legal cigarettes are; the more margins they can reap to bribe even more people!

In spite of the on-going COVID-19 crisis and the political debate in relation to the opening of the Parliament, I strongly urge the Government to remain vigilant and pro-active in combating illegal smuggling activities that are causing a drain of much needed financial revenue and impacting the lives of innocent communities across our nation.