KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police have crippled a contraband smuggling syndicate and made a record seizure of cigarettes and alcohol items worth over RM8 million in a sting operation near here yesterday.
State police chief Omar Mammah said a team of marine policemen raided a storehouse at Kampung Bontoi in Tamparuli, Tuaran, near here, after setting up surveillance over the previous two days.
Three men, including two foreigners, were also arrested in the afternoon raid, he added.
“The police team saw the three men going in and out of the storehouse, carrying crates and crates of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes since Jan 21.
“After moving in on the suspects, aged between the 20s and 40s, the police seized 114,350 boxes of cigarettes, 2,746 crates of beer and other alcoholic beverages and also firecrackers.
“All the items are worth about RM8.3 million, including a white van that we seized. This is the biggest bust for the marine police ever I think,” Omar told reporters at the state police headquarters here today.
He said the contraband items were smuggled in from various locations, although he did not specify where, and were meant for the festive period.
“We believe the items are for the coming Chinese New Year period. We will investigate if the contraband items were to be sold from house to house, shops or nightclubs,” he said.
Omar was happy with the state marine police’s performance, adding the division had made plenty of busts last year, with a total of 1,439 cases solved in 2018, involving seizures of items worth over RM18 million for the whole year.
These seizures involve various cases such as smuggling, drugs, fisheries and immigration offences.
Meanwhile, Bukit Aman marine police commander Mohd Yusoff Mamat said the marine police seized items worth over RM88 million last year. - FMT
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