SEPANG: The Royal Malaysian Customs at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) foiled an attempt to smuggle 2,145,000 cigarette sticks involving tax amounting to RM1.08 million on Friday. The contraband cigarettes that arrived by a cargo flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was seized at 10.30pm in front of the Pos Malaysia International Hub here after an attempt to transport the consignment using a lorry driven by a 49-year-old local resident.
Its Deputy Director-General (Enforcement and Compliance) Datuk Zulkifli Yahya said further inspection revealed that documents produced by the suspect were different from the goods he was transporting. Zulkifli said further investigations led to the detention of two local men aged 38 and 43, believed to be members of the smuggling syndicate involved in using the air route as their new tactic of smuggling cigarettes since their activities using land and sea routes were often foiled by the authorities. He said the seizure was the biggest by the customs department this year, particularly in relation to smuggling of cigarettes through air routes, and the three suspects have been remanded for seven days to facilitate investigations.
