POLICE BUST SMUGGLING RING AND CAPTURE A WANTED FUGITIVE

By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH
metrose@thestar.com.my

TANGKAK: The police busted a cigarette smuggling ring and at the same time, captured a man wanted since 2006.

The 28-year-old fugitive was arrested along with his 48-year-old friendwhen police detained a lorry laden with smuggled cigarettes along Km173.5 of the North-South Expressway near here on Tuesday.

Ledang police chief Supt Harun Idris said his team spotted the 10-tonne truck at 3.35am along the highway near the Jasin exit and decided to stop it.

“We were shocked to see the truck filled with stacks of boxes containing League-brand cigarettes.

“The truck was carrying some 9,800 cartons of League cigarettes with unpaid duties totalling about RM1mil,” he added.

Supt Harun said the truck driver resides in Kuala Lumpur while his accomplice, the wanted man is from Negeri Sembilan.

Both had also tested negative for drugs.

Seized: Supt Harun (left) looking at the seized contraband cigarettes after a police team stopped a lorry along the highway near the Jasin - Tangkak border recently.

He said the duo would be charged under Section 135(1) of the Customs Act 1967 for possessing contraband items with unpaid duty.

On a separate matter, Supt Harun said police detained two men, both aged 21, and recovered a Proton Waja car which was reported stolen in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year.

The men, one from Negri Sembilan and while the other is a resident in Skudai in Johor Baru, were arrested after a highway patrol unit chased them from the Tangkak - Jasin border to the town on July 25.

He said one of them is employed as a computer technician while the other is a truck driver with three previous criminal records.

Both would be referred to the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur where they are expected to be charged.

The district police had also succeeded in arresting three 17-year-old youths and an Indonesian foreign worker for possession of stolen motorbikes.

“Two of the youths were arrested while riding a motorcycle which had been reported stolen in Muar while the Indonesian worker for having a motorcycle with tampered engine and chassis numbers,” added Supt Harun.

SOURCE: THE STAR, AUG 30, 2012