Pahang Customs director Mohd Asri Seman with the seized contraband cigarettes during a press conference at Wisma Kastam Sultan Ahmad Shah in Kuantan, September 29, 2023. — Bernama pic
KUANTAN, Sept 29 — The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) foiled bold-faced smuggling in broad daylight on the highway when it seized 24,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes with an estimated tax duty of RM3.206 million.
Pahang Customs director Mohd Asri Seman said, in what was the largest seizure in Pahang so far, the cigarettes were confiscated from an eight-tonne lorry at KM 57.6 of the Kuantan-Segamat Highway near Pekan, 37km from here at 2.20pm on September 13.
“In an inspection of the lorry travelling south from the East Coast, enforcement officers found 4.8 million white cigarettes estimated to be worth RM384,000 with total duty estimated at RM3.206 million.
“The lorry driver, who is in his 40s, and the vehicle were detained for further investigation under the Customs Act 1967,” he said at Wisma Kastam Sultan Ahmad Shah here today.
Mohd Asri said he believed a cigarette smuggling syndicate was brazenly using the East Coast Expressway and the Kuantan-Segamat Highway to distribute cigarettes in the south.
“We believe their modus operandi is to move at peak times and not at night to obscure the authorities from detection,” he said. — Bernama
