Customs foil attempts to smuggle liquour worth more than RM20m

PORT KLANG, Nov 13 ― The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) Central Zone Unit II (Selangor) foiled attempts to smuggle liquor worth more than RM20 million through three raids in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), Pulau Indah in September and earlier this month.

Customs deputy director-general (Enforcement/Compliance) Datuk Abdul Wahabi Abdullah said the raids which seized about 627,510 litres of liquor were carried out in West Port on Sept 21, September 27 and November 8.

He said on September 21 at 1.15 pm, Selangor Unit II had raided a warehouse in PKFZ and seized 494,373 litres of liquor with unpaid duty worth RM18.54 million.

“In the second case, JKDM raided a warehouse on September 27 at 12.30 pm and as a result of checking the import records, the company declared six containers of liquor and beer but the licensee failed to prove the existence of (the declared) items.

“Following that, JKDM seized 101,592 litres of liquor with unpaid duty estimated at RM2.11 million. Customs also detained a local man in his 40s at the premises to assist in the investigation,” he told a press conference at Wisma Kastam Pulau Indah here today.

At the same press conference, Abdul Wahabi said the JKDM Central Zone Unit 1 Enforcement Division Operations team (Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) had foiled an attempt to import titanium forgings (iron alloy) weighing 25,067.30 kg with an estimated value of confiscation including tax amounting to RM3.52 million on Oct 27.

He said JKDM together with officers from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and Science and Technology Research Institute for Defence (STRIDE), inspected a container in front of a warehouse in West Port, before they discovered the consignment.

“The results of the document and physical examination found that the importation violated the rules under Section 9 (1) of the Strategic Trade Act 2010, namely exporting, transferring or carrying in transit strategic goods without a permit issued under this act,” he said. ― Bernama