KUALA LUMPUR: A consignment of cigarettes worth RM1 million has gone missing from a Customs Department warehouse in Larkin, Johor.
The consignment of over 20,000 cartons of cigarettes was reportedly the biggest disappearance ever in the department’s history, The Star reported today. The warehouse stores items seized by the department such as cigarettes, liquor, fireworks, and vehicles.
According to the report, the department was conducting an internal probe to ascertain how the contraband, part of a consignment of over RM2 million seized during raids, had gone missing from a high-security area.
The disappearance was detected during a spot-check several days ago and a police report has since been lodged.
This is not the first time seized cigarettes and liquor have gone missing from the department’s store, but the recent incident is the first of its magnitude, said the report.
Johor Bahru South police chief ACP Sulaiman Salleh told the daily that the case was being investigated under Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust, and that they were not ruling out the possibility that it was an inside job.
