Johor Customs seize contraband cigarettes worth S$4.5 million

This article is more than 12 months old

Nov 24, 2014 01:18 pm

The contraband cigarettes - over 19 million of them - filled two big containers.

The stash that Johor Bahru Customs seized on Saturday (Nov 22) was worth RM11.5million (S$4.5 million), inclusive of tax.

Customs director-general Khazali Ahmad said the department received a tip-off on Friday: A Franch-registered ship, bearing the items, was anchored at Tanjung Pelepas Port.

He said: "The next day, our personnel inspected both containers on the ship and found the cigarettes, contained in 986,000 packets."

Investigations showed that an unregistered company in Johor had imported the cigarettes and wrongly declared it under miscellaneous manufactured articles.

The vessel's shipping agent has been arrested to aid in investigations.