Customs Assistant Director-General (Enforcement) Paddy Abd Halim said the items, including liquor, tyres, cigarettes and rice stored in 62 containers, were seized at Sepanggar Port between Sept 12 and 14.

He said the contents were 853,776 litres of alcoholic beverages in 49 containers, 11,000 tyres (11 containers), 11 million contraband cigarettes (1 container), 500 bags of rice weighing 25,000kg (1 container) – the import duties on which amounted to RM37.14 million.

“All items were declared as household goods, machinery and hardware, among others,” he told reporters here today.

Paddy said the alcoholic beverages were believed to have been brought in from Singapore and Vietnam; and tyres from Hong Kong and China, but Customs authorities were still investigating whether the goods involved registered companies.

He did not rule out the possibility that smuggling syndicates were involved.

“This is the largest seizure in Sabah following the establishment of the ‘Collaboration Border Management’ set up in Sepanggar Port in early September 2016,” he said.

The case is being investigated under Section 133(1)(a) and 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967.