Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Customs foiled four smuggling attempts last month, seizing cigarette sticks and cannabis buds worth more than RM6.17 million including duties and taxes.
KLIA Customs director Aspalila Ag Tuah said the biggest haul involved 47.8 kg of cannabis worth RM3.824 million found in two pieces of luggage abandoned at the Lost and Found office in the International Arrival Hall of KLIA Terminal 1. Malay Mail reported that the luggage had been booked for a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi on 14 July but was later abandoned by the passengers. Officers scanned the bags, detected suspicious images and uncovered airtight plastic packets filled with cannabis buds.
“The airline was called in to assist in tracing the owners of the luggage,” Aspalila told a press conference at the Customs Cargo Complex on 13 August.
In a separate case on 13 July, Customs seized 12.675 kg of cannabis worth RM1.014 million hidden inside children’s toy boxes at the KLIA Mail and Courier Centre. According to The Star, the telephone number on the boxes could not be contacted and both the sender’s and recipient’s addresses were fake.
“The syndicate concealed the cannabis in airtight plastic packaging before placing it inside children’s toy boxes to evade detection by the authorities,” she said. The packages were believed to have been destined for export to a European country via cargo services.
Both drug cases are being investigated under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Aspalila said KLIA Customs also intercepted 1.53 million cigarette sticks smuggled through the KLIA Free Commercial Zone on 29 and 30 July, with duties and taxes valued at about RM1.35 million. The first consignment of 410,000 cigarettes arrived from a West Asian country under an air waybill declared as clothing to avoid import permit requirements. The cigarettes were valued at about RM102,000 with duties and taxes of RM290,152.
The following day, officers found 1.12 million cigarettes worth RM168,000 in the same zone. The shipment arrived from an Asian country for transit and was believed to be bound for a country in Oceania. This time, the consignment was declared as slippers. Duties and taxes on the second batch totalled RM786,400.
Aspalila said the companies handling both shipments had been called in to assist with the investigations.
