BUTTERWORTH: Hidden deep in the remote forest area at Kampung Valdor near Sungai Jawi in Seberang Perai Selatan, a fake liquor processing syndicate used the local wildlife as an early warning system.
Set around a dilapidated wooden house, which served as the fake liquor processing lab, was a series of frog breeding ponds that forced anyone approaching to set off a cacophony of croaks from the amphibious local wildlife.
And that was what exactly happened when state Customs Department enforcement officers tried to raid the operation, said director Datuk Roselan Ramli.
"The operations team faced a bizarre challenge in trying to bypass the ponds but frogs started croaking loudly," he said according to Bernama.
Catching on that their clandestine operation was croaked due to the commotion, the crooks cut and ran.
Roselan said that all of the syndicate members, mostly Nepalese internationals, managed to evade capture.
A total of 6,621 bottles of liquor were found along with a number of empty bottles, bottle caps and stickers of various brands of liquor in the 11.20am raid on Sept 20.
"There was a glass bottle capping machine and a roll of counterfeit Customs stamps as well as a water barrel that had been modified for manufacturing the fake liquor.
"All these liquors are estimated to be worth RM73,654.35 involving duties of RM334,133.37,” he said at a press conference at the Bagan Jermal enforcement store here on Friday (Oct 11).
He said the syndicate is believed to have been operating there for the past three months and rented the house from a local owner to turn it into a factory for processing fake liquor.
He said it also copied the labels of liquor that are readily available in the market and even affixed forged Customs duty stamps to make it look like the original liquor.
"We believe that these liquors are already in the local market, in retail stores, therefore we advise buyers to buy from licensed premises only because these fake drinks are difficult to tell apart from the original,” he said, alluding to the danger of fake alcohol that can cause blindness, organ failure and even death.
He said efforts to track down the syndicate members were thus being actively carried out and the case was being investigated in accordance with Section 74(1)(f) of the Excise Act 1976 as well as Section 6 of the Law Reform (Eradication of Illicit Samsu Act 165).
Meanwhile, in another separate raid on Oct 2, a total of 12,432 cans and 480 bottles of beer estimated at RM185,596.60 including Customs duty were confiscated following a raid on a premises in Lorong IKS 1 Simpang Ampat near Nibong Tebal.
Roselan said the raid at about 11 am also confiscated a Mitsubishi Fuso lorry which was used to transport liquor from the premises to be distributed to the local market.
"During the raid, three local men and a foreign man aged 28 to 38 years old were also detained for further investigation for suspected involvement in the liquor smuggling syndicate.
"Preliminary investigations found that the modus operandi used by the syndicate was to turn premises in remote areas into liquor (beer) stores while distribution to the local market was in bulk using trucks,” he said.
However, he said further investigations are still underway and the case is being investigated in accordance with Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967 and Section 74(1)(a) of the Excise Act 1976.
