KUCHING: The General Operations Force (GOF) seized smuggled cigarettes and liquor estimated to be worth more than RM3 million here and in Miri on Wednesday.
GOF Sarawak commander SAC Mancha Ata said the contrabands were confiscated during an inspection at a workshop at Mile 13, Jalan Kuching-Serian here, at about 1am on that day.
He said an inspection of three lorries at the workshop found 5,000 cartons of cigarettes and 1,697 boxes of liquor believed to be smuggled.
“The value of the contrabands including the three lorries is RM1.34 million,” he said today.
Five local men were also arrested during the raid.
He added that the investigation was conducted in accordance with Section 135 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967 and those arrested were handed over to the Padawan district police headquarters (IPD) for further action.
Meanwhile in Miri, a total of 2,073,600 Kretek cigarettes worth RM1.7 million were confiscated in the operations dubbed Ops Libas.
According to Mancha, GOF personnel raided a house at King’s Park, Jalan Bintulu-Miri at 5.45pm on Wednesday.
He said the house was suspected of being used as a storage place for the smuggled cigarettes and all the seizures were made under Section 135 (1) (d) of the Customs Act 1967.
He added that the GOF also found various daily necessities while patrolling during Ops Benteng in the areas of Gua Ming, Sri Aman at about 10am on Tuesday.
The items were suspected to be smuggled to a neighbouring country through rat trails in the state’s border areas.
“The items included cooking gas, cigarettes, cooking oil, 50 cans of sardines, 12 packets of biscuits and 300 packs of crackers estimated to be worth RM4,600,” he said.
