CUSTOMS SEIZE DRUGS, ELECTRICAL GOODS, LUXURY VEHICLES WORTH OVER OVER RM35 MLN

KLANG, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) Central Zone II (Selangor) has seized drugs, electrical goods, ethanol liquid, and vehicles worth over RM35.45 million in separate raids and inspections around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

 Customs Central Zone assistant director-general, Norlela Ismail said that on Oct 3, during an inspection of a courier company warehouse in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, 448 grammes of cannabis, valued at RM13,555, was discovered in a shipment box.

She said that the package, declared as ‘Customised Wedding Decor’, was brought in from a country in the Americas, and the recipient of the package is currently being traced to assist with the investigation.

"Upon inspection, the box was found to contain various forms of cannabis, including gel, chocolate bars, candies, and leaves."

"This case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952," she said at a press conference at the Selangor North Port Customs Office today.

Regarding the seizure of electrical goods worth RM1.2 million, Norlela said this was part of Ops Renjat 2024, conducted between Oct 9 and 30, which successfully uncovered 16,966 units of goods following inspections of seven containers at the North Port here.

She said that these goods were believed to have been imported for online sales, with the items falsely declared as LCD TVs, table fan parts, and emergency lanterns in order to avoid the requirement to obtain a Certificate of Approval (COA) for importation purposes.

"Upon inspection, electrical goods such as vacuum cleaners, air fryers, lamps, fans, washing machines, Smart TVs, computer monitors, blenders, water dispensers, and induction cookers were found, and it is believed they did not have the required COA from the Energy Commission (ST).

"Importing electrical goods is allowed, subject to the issuance of an Import Permit/Approval Certificate by the ST and the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM)," she said.

She added that the case is being investigated under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967, which pertains to the importation of prohibited goods, and Section 133(1)(a) of the same Act, which concerns false declarations.

She added that 160 drums, or 26,400 litres, of suspected 96 per cent ethanol liquid, believed to be without an import permit, were found during an inspection of a container at the West Port on Nov 5, with a value of RM2.5 million.

"The goods were declared using an incorrect tariff code, 2930.90.9000, which refers to a chemical substance called Dithiocarbonates used in the production of insecticides. As such, the case is being investigated under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967," she said.

In a separate case, seven luxury vehicles valued at approximately RM1 million, including unpaid taxes, were seized by the JKDM following inspections of 29 licensed warehouses around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur under Ops Terma, which ran from Oct 7 to 30.

"Among the vehicles seized were Mercedes, Ferrari, Nissan GTR, Jaguar, and Toyota Alphard.

"The offence was the storage of vehicles beyond the allowed storage period, and the case is being investigated under the Customs Act 1967," she said.

-- BERNAMA