PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Lumpur Customs Department has busted two attempts to smuggle beer and various brands of cigarettes worth RM3.1 million following raids in Klang and Shah Alam on Monday.
In the raids on the two warehouses, the department also nabbed five individuals, including two women, one of who is an Indonesian national, believed to be the workers.
Kuala Lumpur Customs Director Zulkurnain Mohamed Yusuf said the first raid took place at 1 pm at a warehouse located at Jalan Tengah off Jalan Ikan Bawal, Telok Gong, Klang.
"In the raid, we found various brands of beer and cigarettes stored in the warehouse.
"Following that, we seized 50,922 liters of various brands of beer worth RM294,881, with unpaid duties and taxes valued at RM731,979.
"We also seized 2.01 million sticks (10,050 cartons) of cigarettes worth RM316,800, with unpaid duties and taxes valued at RM1.29 million," he said at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Customs headquarters here, today.
He also said that in the first raid, four individuals including two women aged between 21 and 51 were detained.
"All of them had been remanded for 12 days to assist in the investigation," he said.
Following the first raid, the customs party then conducted a second raid at 5.45 pm at warehouse in Section U5, Shah Alam.
"In the raid, we seized 559,400 sticks (2,797 cartons) of cigarettes worth RM100,692, with unpaid taxes duties of RM361,819.
"We also detained a local man aged 39, who has been remanded for 10 days, for further investigation," he said.
He said both cases were being investigated under Section 135 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967 for storage of prohibited goods. Zulkurnain said his department was still investigating the modus operandi of the syndicate involved in the two cases.
"We are still investigating the possibility that the same syndicate is behind these two cases and how they operate.
"We suspect that the beers and cigarettes were smuggled in from neighbouring countries via a sea port but are declared as other products .. the investigation is still ongoing," he said.
He said all the confiscated items were smuggled in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration next Friday.