Malaysian Royal Customs Seize 2.62 Million Contraband Cigarettes
According to a report by Berita Harian on April 28, the Kelantan branch of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department conducted two separate raids last Wednesday (24th) and seized 2.62 million sticks of smuggled cigarettes, with a total taxable value exceeding RM 2.3 million (USD 482,433). Among them, the department's first seizure of smuggled heated tobacco products amounted to 900,000 sticks, with an estimated value of about RM 270,000 (USD 56,633).
JKDM Director Wan Jamal Abdul Salam Wan Long announced that the department carried out two raids between 8:10 pm and 9:30 pm on April 24. In the first raid, 1.72 million cigarette sticks were seized, while in the second raid, 900,000 units of heated tobacco products were confiscated. The total value of the items seized in both operations was 2.62 million ringgit (approximately $549,554), with a taxable value of 2.3 million ringgit (approximately $482,433).
He stated in today's press conference, "We believe that these two cases were orchestrated by the same criminal syndicate, and the materials involved were smuggled from a neighboring country."
He explained that the smuggling gang may have used the Malaysia-Thailand border to bring the goods into the country.
They will use smuggling teams to gradually smuggle all kinds of cigarettes through the Gyirong River. The smuggled cigarettes will be centralized and hidden in a certain place to ensure the safety of their operations, and then distributed to the market. The seized Blue Range is a popular product that originally came from Europe, but we suspect it has been rebranded in neighboring countries. In the Malaysian market, a pack of 20 is priced at 14 ringgit (2.94 USD) or more.
Currently, the case will be investigated according to Section 135(1)(e) of the Taxation Act of 1967.
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