KLUANG: The Simpang Renggam General Operations Force has busted a cigarette and liquor smuggling syndicate with the arrest of four local men in Johor Baru on Saturday and Sunday (Oct 19 and 20).
Deputy Director of Internal Security and Public Order of the Royal Malaysia Police Datuk Zainal Abidin Kasim said the arrests follows a raid on a warehouse in Jalan Kempas Lama at 12.05am on Saturday and a house in Ulu Tiram at 10.30am on Sunday.
The liquor and cigarettes worth RM8.4 million were seized in both the raids.
“In the first raid in Jalan Kempas Lama, police detained two men, aged 50 and 41, with 315 boxes (15,750 cartons) of cigarettes of the brand ‘‘U2’’ and 70 boxes (3,500 cartons) of the brand ‘’John’’.
“The team also seized 171 boxes (2,052 bottles) of ‘01 Vin Moulin Semi Sweet’ liquor and a six-tonne lorry, a three-tonne lorry, a Proton Exora car, a Toyota Hilux four-wheel drive, and a Volkswagen Scirocco car,” he said in a press conference held here today.
Zainal Abidin said following the arrests, police raided a house in Ulu Tiram and detained two more suspects, aged 51.
In the second raid, 301 boxes of ‘‘U2’’ cigarettes (15,050 cartons), 29 boxes of ‘’John’’ cigarettes (1,450 cartons) as well as 169 boxes (2,028 bottles) of the liquor ‘’01 Vin Moulin Semi Sweet’’ and two one-tonne lorries and a van were seized.
“The four suspects were believed to have used the warehouse to store the goods while the house was a transit point before the goods are distributed to their agents.
“All the suspects are now being remanded for 14 days for investigations under Section 135 of the Customs Act 1967,” he said. — Bernama
