PADANG BESAR: The collaboration between the Perlis Customs Department and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) to create products using seized cigarettes is a new approach that can be further explored, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said today.
He said the cigarettes and liquor seized were usually disposed of, and this would incur costs to the government after the case was completed, without any gain in return.
“This collaboration benefits both parties (Customs and UniMAP), and the products produced can also be commercialised,“ Amiruddin told the media after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties at the Felcra Lubuk Sireh Hall here, today.
According to the MoU, UniMAP would use its expertise to produce fertilizers for farming, insecticides and poisons that were safe to use.
UniMAP vice-chancellor Prof Ir Ts Badlishah Ahmad and Perlis Customs director Wan Noor Wan Mamat signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.
Badlishah said the products produced were environmentally friendly and had high commercial value.
He said almost all the physical materials of cigarettes could be reused, such as the tobacco and its covering, to be processed into activated carbon (powder), and used in the batik industry to remove colour.
The cigarette buds, meanwhile, are turned into membranes to be used as water filters, and the cigarette boxes and other agricultural wastes are processed into fertilizers.
Customs (Enforcement and Compliance) deputy director-general Datuk Azimah Abdul Hamid said the main items seized by the department were cigarettes and liquor.
He said from Jan 1 and June 15 this year, cigarettes worth RM18.29 million involving taxes of RM163.89 million were seized, while for liquor, it was RM11.611 million worth of goods involving taxes of RM25.32 million. - Bernama
