KOTA BHARU, Aug 7 — The Kelantan Customs Department seized 1.94 million sticks of smuggled cigarettes worth RM1.54 million, including tax, last month.
Its director Wan Jamal Abdul Salam Wan Long said the cigarettes were seized following surveillance and investigations carried out by the Kota Bahru and Rantau Panjang Divisions’ Operations Teams at two different locations — at Kampung Chat, Palekbang in Tumpat and at Kampung Badak, Bachok.
The seizure involved 94,050 cartons of illegal cigarette brands that would be sold illegally at prices ranging from RM7 to RM8 a packet, which could rake in over RM600,000.
“In the first raid carried out at 5.45am, enforcement officers stopped a lorry at Kampung Chat, Tumpat, and seized 99 boxes that contained more than one million cigarettes. However, the driver of the lorry managed to escape,” he said during a press conference today.
During the second raid in Kampung Badak at 9.30pm, 90,000 cigarette sticks were seized from a lorry.
Jamal said the modus operandi of syndicates involved in smuggling cigarettes was to bring in the cigarettes from a neighbouring country by boats before transferring the smuggled cigarettes onto lorries for distribution.
— Bernama
