Driver held over untaxed cigarettes

Deputy Muar police chief Superintendent Sahadan Jaafar said police detained the white Inokom 3-tonne lorry at the Jalan Bari second link and found 310 boxes of contraband cigarettes. He said police arrested the 30-year-old lorry driver from Alor Star, Kedah. The cigarettes are valued at RM155,000 with unpaid Customs duty of RM1.41 million.

Sahadan said the suspect, upon conviction, could be fined 10 times the value of the cigarettes or RM1.55 million. He said initial investigation revealed the driver was instructed to deliver the cigarettes, believed to have been smuggled from a neighbouring country, from Air Hitam in Johor to Malacca. "The suspect claimed he had met an individual in Singapore who offered him RM200 for each delivery, from Air Hitam to Malacca," he said.