More Than US$15.69 Million Worth Of Smuggled Goods Seized In Malaysian Waters - MMEA DG

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), June 19 (Bernama) -- More than US$15.69 million (RM67 million) worth of goods were seized by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in smuggling cases recorded since 2007 until February this year. MMEA director-general Maritime Rear Admiral Zulkifli Abu Bakar said the smuggled items included cigarette, liquor, diesel and petrol. "Cigarette recorded the highest value with US$1.47 million (RM6.3 million) last year,” he said when met by Bernama recently. He said smuggling was a serious problem and efforts were continuously made by the agency to step up patrol and curb the activity. The focus is on drug smuggling and other contraband in the northern part of the country, he added. Last June 4, the MMEA recovered 629 kilogrammes of drug, believed to be cannabis, worth US$421,824 (RM1.8 million), which were thrown into the sea in Langkawi, Malaysia's northern state Kedah. Prior to that, local fishermen saw a group of men acting suspiciously and was seen throwing huge plastic packages into the sea and reported the matter to MMEA. -- BERNAMA