KUANTAN: Pahang Customs Department confiscated contraband cigarettes worth RM3 million after intercepting a lorry along the Kuala Lumpur-Karak (KLK) highway recently.
Its director, Mohd Asri Seman, said the eight-tonne lorry bound for Kuala Lumpur was stopped at Km35.1 of the highway about 2pm.
Acting on a tip-off, he said an enforcement team had trailed the lorry before flagging it down.
"Enforcement officers found 3,980,000 cigarettes roughly worth RM363,400, with total duty estimated at RM2.6 million.
"The seized cigarettes and lorry are estimated to be worth more than RM3 million."
Asri added investigations revealed that the lorry had been travelling from Kelantan for distribution in the Klang Valley.
"Their modus operandi is to transport the contraband during peak hours, and not at night, to avoid detection," he told reporters at the department's headquarters here today.
He said the lorry driver, in his 30s, was detained under the Customs Act 1967 and the seized items were transported to the department's enforcement unit for further action.
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