KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained a cargo boat last Monday and seized 650,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes valued at RM2.6 million.
Sabah and Labuan MMEA director First Admiral (Maritime) Mohd Rosli Abdullah said the vessel was held by a patrol team that was engaged in an operation code-named ‘Op Api’ about 24 nautical miles north-west of Pulau Usukan at about 11 pm.
A skipper and six crew - four Indian nationals and two Malaysians - aged between 24 and 50 were arrested, he said in a statement today. All of them had valid travel documents, he added.
Mohd Rosli said it was learned that the boat was registered in Mongolia and the smuggled cigarettes were being transported from Vietnam to two other locations also, namely Miri in Sarawak and Balik Papan in Indonesia.
“The boat documents were not in order. There was no record of the crew and the port clearance papers had expired,” he said.
Mohd Rosli said the boat has been towed to the MMEA jetty in Sepanggar. -Bernama
