KOTA TINGGI: Police have busted a cigarette smuggling syndicate after arresting five individuals and seizing cigarettes worth RM710,00 during a raid at a shoplot in Taman Sri Saujana, here, three days ago (July 25).
Kota Tinggi police chief Supt Ahsmon Bajah said the raid was the biggest success for the district this year, adding that three locals and two Indonesians, all men aged between 28 and 55, were arrested at the premises.
He added that police checks found a container in the premises with 362 boxes of smuggled cigarettes under the ‘R.G.D Magnum’ label, each containing 50 cigarette cartons.
“The cigarettes are believed to have been smuggled in from neighbouring countries. The foreigners are said to be the intermediaries while the locals were their business partners,“ Ahsmon told reporters at the district police headquarters, here today.
Ahsmon said the syndicate was believed to have been active for the past three months and the cigarettes for sale at RM35 a carton, were to be distributed to local markets across the country.
He added that one of the suspects, a 35-year-old local man, was arrested on charges of committing mischief under Section 427 of the Penal Code.
“Meanwhile, another 25-year-old foreign suspect failed to produce his identification documents and had violated Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63,“ he said.
By busting the syndicate, the police believed they had crippled the cigarette smuggling ring especially in the waters off Kota Tinggi.
Ahsmon said all the suspects had been remanded for 15 days until Aug 8 to facilitate investigations under Section 35 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967. — Bernama
