Penang Customs thwarts RM5mil vape smuggling bid

The Star

2 days ago

BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Customs Department has thwarted an attempt to smuggle in over 80,000 vape pods and nearly 1,000 litres of vape liquid, worth a staggering RM5.1mil including taxes, into the country via Penang and Selangor.
Its director Rohaizad Ali said the first raid revealed that the illicit consignment had been declared as plastic materials and hidden among other imported goods in a bid to evade detection.
The first raid saw Customs officers inspecting a container at the North Butterworth Container Terminal at around 1.15pm on April 3.
'Our officers seized 14,200 unit of vape pods and 220 litres of vape liquid worth about RM1.5mil, including taxes,' he told a press conference yesterday.
Rohaizad added that during the raid, two men – a port agent and a Chinese national in their 30s – were detained.
In the second raid at Port Klang on April 10, Customs officers confiscated 71,886 vape pods and 786 litres of vape liquid and electronic gels worth about RM3.64mil.
A port agent was arrested to assist in investigations, said Rohaizad.
Meanwhile, the department also seized more than 18kg of ganja buds worth some RM1.8mil in separate operations in the state.
Rohaizad said on April 16, a team from the Customs narcotics unit conducted checks on parcels at Pos Malaysia's mail courier centre in Batu Kawan and discovered four packages containing dried plant material believed to be ganja buds.
He said the seized drugs weighed slightly over 2.2kg and were valued at RM219,128.
To avoid detection, the parcels were declared as containing nine units of 'comic books' and exported to the United Kingdom before being returned with the status of 'returned parcel'.