KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu Customs Department crippled an attempt by a syndicate to smuggle cigarettes worth RM564,000 and unpaid duty amounting to RM3.2mil on Saturday (May 6).
Following the raid, Customs also seized two lorries, a boat and two 250 horsepower engines, all worth RM260,000.
Terengganu Customs director Mohd Nadzri Ariffin said following information from members of the public and surveillance carried out by Customs officers, a team from the department carried out the raid at 1.30pm in Kampung Pengkalan Gelap, near a shrimp breeding pond.
Mohd Nazri said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to smuggle in cigarettes by boat before transferring the goods onto lorries for distribution of the cigarettes in the East Coast and Klang Valley.
"However, upon 'sniffing' the presence of the enforcement team, about eight members of the syndicate managed to escape into the mangrove forest, leaving behind the boat, two lorries and 470 boxes that contained 4.7 million contraband cigarette sticks," he told reporters here on Tuesday (May 9).
Mohd Nadzri said investigations and surveillance revealed that cigarette smuggling activities was focused in the north of Terengganu, namely from Besut to Setiu. - Bernama
