Customs Dept confiscates firecrackers, cigarettes valued at more than RM400,000

PASIR MAS: The Royal Customs Department seized firecrackers, fireworks and cigarettes, valued at RM438,150 including tax, in raids at Wakaf Bata in Machang and Kampung Pachakan in Kuala Besut, Terengganu, three days ago.
Kelantan Customs director Mohd Nasir Yusoff said three men, comprising a local, a Thai and a Myanmar national, who are in their 20s and 30s, were arrested in the raids.
He said the raid in Wakaf Bata was made after a Customs team intercepted a lorry, which was coming from Tanah Merah and heading to Machang and upon inspection found 174 boxes of firecrackers in the vehicle.
A 31-year-old lorry driver was arrested in the 3.50 am raid, he told reporters at the Customs Complex in Rantau Panjang near here today.
At Kampung Pachakan, Mohd Nasir said 1,150 cartons of smuggled cigarettes were seized from two cars, a Perodua Alza and a Proton Preve, during a road block mounted by the department and the National Security Council.
The two cars were heading towards Kelantan, he said, adding that the drivers of the two cars, a Thai and a Myanmar national, were detained. — Bernama