SEPANG: Officers from the Customs Department have raided a premises near Bandar Saujana Putra, Selangor, and seized a cache of contraband liquor stored in a secret room.
The department's central zone assistant director-general Norlela Ismail said the raid was conducted by personnel from the department's Central Zone enforcement section on March 14 at 8pm. The type of premises was not revealed in her press statement.
She added the raid was a result of the department's surveillance on the premises. A total of 1,362.27 litres of liquor of various brands were seized. The alcoholic drinks were worth a total of RM69,400, with unpaid duties amounting to RM86,200.
Tax stamps believed to be fake were also found and Norlela said they were used to label the contraband to pass them off as "legal" drinks.
"Initial investigations found that the premises was used to store and distribute legal alcohol. The untaxed alcohol was kept in the secret room.
"The department also discovered 800 fake tax stamps used to pass off the liquor as legal products," she said in a press conference today.
In the raid, Norlela said a 38-year-old male employee was detained at the site under the Customs Act 1967 and Excise Act 1976 for further investigations.
"The case is being investigated under Section 133(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967, which involves making false declarations.
"If convicted, the court may impose a fine not exceeding RM500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years or both," she said.
In another case, Norlela said the department had seized 82 steel foils with an estimated weight of 323,278 kilogrammes in a raid dubbed Op Bersepadu at a warehouse in West Port, Port Klang, on March 19.
The steel foils were used for construction purposes, she said, and worth RM1,366,100. The import and anti-dumping duties amounted to RM204,900 and RM711,700, respectively.
"It is believed that the importer made false declarations when declaring the items under a tariff code not subject to duties and taxes.
"The case is also being investigated under Section 133(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967 for making false declarations," she said.