Customs seizes cigarettes, alcohol, sex toys and more worth over RM700,000

KLANG - The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) Central Zone II (Selangor) has thwarted attempts to smuggle various contraband goods, including sex toys, zamzam water and cigarettes, with a total seizure value and taxes amounting to RM730,530 through six separate operations around the Klang Valley recently.

Central Zone assistant director-general Norlela Ismail said the seizure involving zamzam water was made during a raid on a warehouse in Shah Alam on May 21.

She said the inspection, witnessed by a local man believed to be the warehouse manager, found 4,685 litres of zamzam water worth RM117,200 and that the man failed to produce any import permit for the goods.

"Zamzam water or mineral water is a prohibited item, and its import is allowed only with an import licence under Item 35, Part I, Third Schedule, Customs Order (Prohibition on Imports) 2023. The case is being investigated under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967," she said at a press conference here today.

For the cigarette seizure, Norlela said inspections on a warehouse at North Port on June 13 and a raid on an unoccupied premises in Seri Kembangan seven days later led to the discovery of 670,000 cigarettes with an estimated value and taxes amounting to RM505,100.

She said the cigarettes seized at North Port were declared as 'Bicycle Parts' in the shipping documents, while the modus operandi in Seri Kembangan involved using unoccupied premises as storage for non-customs goods to avoid detection by JKDM.

JKDM also seized other smuggled items, including 644.64 litres of various branded alcoholic beverages, 2,816 glazed porcelain tiles imported without the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) approval certificate, and 200 units of sex toys at different locations in the Klang Valley. - BERNAMA