SIBU: A total of 36 containers harbouring smuggled items into the country worth more than RM3 million were confiscated between October and November last year.
Customs Department assistant director-general Datuk Paddy Abdul Halim said acting on surveillance and tip-off, all the containers with the contraband were seized from the same location in Sibu port here.
He said the first nine containers were seized on Oct 26 while the remaining containers were confiscated on Nov 9.
“There were 25 containers containing rice weighing 653.85 tonnes with RM1.83 million worth in tax.
“There were beers with RM883,319.27 worth of tax in four of the containers.
“The enforcement team found tyres worth RM1.124 million including tax in the remaining containers,” he told a press conference here today.
He said the culprits tried to evade seizure by forging the manifest of the items inside the containers.