By V. Shankar Ganesh

PORT KLANG MALAYSIA: Almost 40 tonnes of canned pork was seized by Selangor Customs officers when the importers tried to smuggle them in as fibreglass spray and foodstuff.

The importers brought in two container-loads of pork luncheon meat and stewed pork without getting an approved permit from the Veterinary Services Department.

The canned pork is valued at RM208,000 (S$86,250), with unpaid taxes amounting to RM43,000.

Checks showed that the containers had arrived in Northport in June and were lying idle in the port while plans were made to smuggle them out.

However, the Customs Department learned of the consignment and checked it on Sept 11.

In another operation the following day, Customs officers seized a container of cigarettes that had been falsely declared as foodstuff, pottery and steel racks.

The container had arrived from Sarawak.

There were close to 3.5 million sticks of cigarettes valued at more than RM420,000, with unpaid duties of almost RM1.5 million.

Cigarette seizures in Selangor for the year amount to 430,229 cartons, compared with 456,971 cartons seized in the whole of last year.