TAWAU: The marine police yesterday foiled an attempt to smuggle in 532,500 packets of Filter King and Astro cigarettes worth about RM10.7 million under Op Paradise in the waters off Tawau here last Thursday.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said during the 5.50pm raid in the waters of Kampung Titingan, marine police detained seven Filipino men aged between 27 and 40.
“Based on intelligence and surveillance, a patrol team detained and searched a barter trade boat in the waters and found 282,500 packets of Filter King and 250,000 packets of Astro cigarettes.
“The arrest is a big success for the Sabah Marine Police Fourth Territory this year and we will continue to focus on smuggling activities as these are common, especially in the east coast region of Sabah,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Jalaluddin said on the same day, near the Tawau port, the marine cops had also foiled an attempt to smuggle out 15,000 litres of subsidized fuel and 50 gas cylinders, estimated to be worth RM52,500.
“During the arrests about 5.30pm, the patrol team detected a suspicious-looking barter trade boat and upon inspection found 14,000 litres of diesel, 1,000 litres of petrol and 50 gas cylinders in it,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, the Kota Kinabalu marine police foiled an attempt to smuggle sand in the waters off the Kota Kinabalu port last Thursday.
“In the operation at about 6.30pm, a tugboat was carrying about 1,100 tonnes of sand and when questioned, the skipper of the boat was unable to produce any documents from the Sabah Land and Mines Department,” Jalaluddin said.
Investigations revealed that the sand had been illegally obtained and meant to be sold to construction sites in the Kota Kinabalu area. – Bernama