JOHOR BARU: The Customs Department has made its biggest bust in Johor this year with the seizure of contraband cigarettes valued at RM11.5mil including tax.

Director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said the 19.72 million sticks of cigarettes were found in two shipping containers in a France-registered ship docked at Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Gelang Patah on Saturday.

He said the department received a tip-off from its Johor Baru enforcement operations unit a day earlier at 12.35pm that the ship’s manifest did not match the items onboard.

“We inspected both containers and found the cigarettes, branded ‘Modeng’, contained in 986,000 cartons,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Khazali said investigations showed that the cigarettes were imported by an unregistered company with an address in Johor and they were falsely declared as “miscellaneous manufactured articles”.

“The ship’s record showed that it called at the Singapore Port before coming to Johor. We believe the illicit cigarettes were for the Malaysian market,” he said.

He said the vessel’s shipping agent, a foreign national, was arrested to assist in investigations under Section 133(1)(a) of the Customs Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a RM500,000 fine or five years’ jail, or both, if found guilty.

Separately, Khazali said that as of October, the department had stopped 471 attempts to smuggle cigarettes, alcohol, fireworks and other items valued at RM20.5mil and RM51.8mil in taxes.

He also said that 176 cases were brought to court compared to 116 last year.

Resource : The Star