SEPANG: An attempt to smuggle in 40,000 cartons of cigarettes with unpaid duties amounting to more than RM4mil was intercepted by the Customs Department.

KLIA Customs director Datuk Chik Omar Chik Lim said the items, which arrived in a 12m container from China on May 18, were seized last Wednesday at about 5pm in Port Klang, Selangor.

"The items were declared as 928 cartons of plastic products comprising chopsticks, containers, bottles and wares worth RM109,431.95.

"But upon close inspection, we found that there were 8,000,000 sticks of illegal cigarettes in 800 packs worth RM400,000," he said during a press conference at KLIA here on Monday.

According to Chik Omar, authorities were in the process of tracking down the perpetrator behind the smuggling attempt.

"We tried contacting the company but it turns out the name and address provided were false," he said.

The offence was investigated under Section 133(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967, which carries the maximum punish­ment of a RM500,000 fine, or five years jail, or both.

Three attempts to smuggle in drugs worth more than RM1.7mil were also crippled by the department with the arrests of two foreigners, including a Ukraine woman, between May 11 and June 15.

Chik Omar said in the first case, a 35-year-old Indian man was detained at about 6.45am at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) with 6.3kg of methamphetamine worth over RM1.2mil.

The illicit item was found in a secret compartment of the suspect's luggage who had just arrived from Bangalore, India, on May 11.

"The drugs were hidden in 49 scent sticks," he said.

In the second case, two parcels containing a combined weight of 840g methamphetamine were confiscated at a courier service centre at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on May 18.

The parcels, which arrived from Shenzen, China, arrived on May 13 but were not claimed, despite calls being made to two individuals who allegedly lived in Kuala Lumpur.

"Intelligence led us to the seizure of the parcels. We found each of the parcels contained an alloy roller which had white powder, believed to be methamphetamine, stuffed in it.

"The drugs are worth about RM157,700," he said.