SEPANG: An attempt to smuggle in 40,000 cartons of cigarettes with unpaid duties amounting to more than RM4mil was intercepted by the Customs Department.
KLIA Customs director Datuk Chik Omar Chik Lim said the items, which arrived in a 12m container from China on May 18, were seized last Wednesday at about 5pm in Port Klang, Selangor.
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“The items were declared as 928 cartons of plastic products comprising chopsticks, containers, bottles and wares worth RM109,431.95.
“But upon close inspection, we found that there were 8,000,000 sticks of illegal cigarettes in 800 packs worth RM400,000,” he said during a press conference at KLIA here on Monday.
According to Chik Omar, authorities were in the process of tracking down the perpetrator behind the smuggling attempt.
“We tried contacting the company but it turns out the name and address provided were false,” he said.
The offence was investigated under Section 133(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967, which carries the maximum punishment of a RM500,000 fine, or five years jail, or both.
