KOTA KINABALU, Jan 24 — Sabah Marine Police here scored its biggest haul on record, seizing RM8.3 million of contraband alcohol, cigarettes and fireworks, most of which is believed to be for the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities.
Sabah commissioner of police Datuk Omar Mammah said that the unit successfully raided an old, unassuming warehouse in Kampung Bontoi, Tamparuli yesterday that was used to store the goods and found the smuggled goods along with three suspects.
“The case started with surveillance since January 21, all the way till yesterday about 12.30pm when they raided the warehouse after seeing the suspects move in and out with the goods,” he said at a press conference here.
After seizing the goods, the tally came up to 114,350 cartons of cigarettes of various brands like Astro, Era, Gudang Garam, Premium and Wifi worth RM5.5 million, 2,746 cartons of beer and cases of liquor of various brands like Hollandia, Carlsberg, Tiger and Heineken worth RM2.6 million and RM6,235 worth of fireworks.
Also seized was a van used to transport the goods worth some RM90,000, bringing the tally up to RM8.3 million.
The case is the biggest ever recorded by the state’s marine police.
“The suspects, two locals and a foreigner, was arrested for investigation under Section 135(1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967 (Amended in 2018) for possession of illegal goods,” he said.
Investigations are ongoing to determine whether the items were smuggled through by land or sea, the origins of the items and whether the three suspects were part of a larger network of smugglers.
Omar, in congratulating the unit, said that they had last year conducted 1,684 operations and built 1,439 cases worth RM18 million in seizures, mostly in offences against the Fisheries Act as well as Immigration offences.
Nationally, Bukit Aman marine police chief Mohd Yusoff Mamat said that the unit had conducted 3,316 operations, building 4,315 cases worth RM88 million in seizures.
