KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah Customs seized various kinds of goods valued at RM42.38 million, including tax, which is the largest seizure ever made in that state, last week.
The Customs assistant director-general (Enforcement) Datuk Paddy Abd Halim said items including liquor, tyres, cigarettes and rice stored in 62 containers were seized in the Sepanggar port between 12 to 14 September
He said, the contents were 853,776 litres of alcoholic beverages in 49 containers, 11,000 tyres (11 containers), 11 million contraband cigarettes (1 container), 500 bags of rice weighing 25,000kg (1 container) the import duties for which amounted to RM37.14 million.
“All items were declared as household goods, machinery and hardware, among others,” he told reporters here today.
Paddy said the alcoholic beverages were believed to have been brought in from Singapore and Vietnam; and tyres from Hong Kong and China but the customs authorities were still investigating whether the goods involved registered companies.
He also did not rule out the possibility that smuggling syndicates were also involved but the matter was still under investigation.
“This is the largest seizure in Sabah following the establishment of the ‘Collaboration Border Management’ which was set up in Sepanggar Port in early September 2016,” he said.
