BUTTERWORTH, Feb 6 — The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) of Penang raided a store used for processing liquor in an oil palm plantation in Sungai Dua on January 6.

Its director, Datuk Rohaizad Ali, said the raid, conducted by a team from the Enforcement Division following tip-offs and intelligence gathered, found bottles with various brand labels containing liquid suspected to be liquor.

“Inspections also led to the discovery of a tank filled with ethanol and various types of equipment used to process liquor, including rolls of fake customs tax stamps, packaging equipment, capping machines and label applicators.

“We found 10,391 bottles or 4,208.7 litres of liquor (whisky) suspected of being undeclared worth RM717,963, including RM516,072 in tax,” he told a media conference at Kompleks Pencegahan Negeri here today.

Rohaizad said some of the liquor bottles had been stamped with Customs duty, but the premises was unoccupied during the raid.

“Investigations are still underway to identify the owner of the premises, and based on the utility bills, it is registered under the name of a Malaysian,” he said, adding that the case is being investigated under sections 20(1) and 74(1)(f) of the Excise Act 1976. — Bernama