KOTA BARU: Police have arrested five men and seized contraband cigarettes worth RM750,000 including unpaid taxes.
State police chief Comm Datuk Muhamad Zaki Harun said the arrests and seizures were made through two separate raids on Saturday under an operation dubbed Ops Kontraban.
“In the first case, police stopped three men who were travelling in a Perodua Kembara before they proceeded to inspect a lorry in front of a shop in Simpang Empat Kampung Pauh Panji.
“Checks on the lorry found some 300,000 sticks of untaxed white cigarettes with an estimated value of RM225,000,” he said in a statement, Bernama reported.Following the arrest, police conducted a follow-up raid in a nearby area and detained another suspect.
Comm Muhamad Zaki said that acting on information, police raided and arrested another suspect in Kampung Panji at about 3.30pm on the same day.
The interrogation of the suspect led to the discovery of a lorry in Kampung Padang Mokkan here.
“An inspection on the lorry found some 700,000 white cigarette sticks, believed to be contraband, worth an estimated RM525,000 including unpaid taxes,” he said, adding that the suspects were between the ages of 27 and 59.
Comm Muhamad Zaki said the case would be investigated under Section 135 (1)(e) of the Customs Act.
