JOHOR BARU: Johor Customs crippled an attempt to smuggle in 26 luxury cars from Singapore worth RM2.9 million including taxes in several locations around Taman Laguna, here, last Wednesday.
Its director Datuk Ramli Johari said a Singaporean woman in her 20s was detained in the raid at 3 pm on the same day at a house in the area.
“The smuggling activity was crippled based on information from the public and also customs intelligence information. Among the cars seized were Toyota Alphard, Mercedes Benz Brabus, Toyota Lexus, Honda Integra and Toyota Estima,” he told reporters after the Johor level World Customs Day celebration, here today.
Ramli said initial investigations revealed that the registration of all the cars worth RM1.1 million, and unpaid tax amounting to RM1.8 million, had been cancelled in Singapore before they were brought into Johor to be sold cheap in the local market.
He said, three out of 26 cars were found in the women’s house, while the others were placed in several locations around the housing area, believed to make it difficult for the authorities to spot them.
He said, the Singaporean was being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of Customs Act 1967 while the customs continues to locate other individuals involved in the smuggling syndicate.
“The woman who is married to a local is believed to be one of the syndicate members. We are also investigating how long the syndicate has been operating,” he said.
In another case Ramli said customs also crippled a cigarette smuggling attempt worth RM6.32 million inclusive of unpaid tax at Pelabuhan Pasir Gudang here, two days ago and Sungai Sarang Buaya near Muar, yesterday.
He said 10 million sticks of white cigarettes were seized during the inspection on a container at the port while 288,000 sticks of clove cigarettes were seized from a Toyota Estima car in Sungai Sarang Buaya.
Ramli said initial investigations revealed that the container had declared the goods as ‘polyester yarn’ from Vietnam before inspection revealed white cigarettes worth RM6.14 million.
“The clove cigarettes found in the Toyota Estima is worth approximately RM180,000 including tax. The driver of the car however, managed to escape,” he said.
