Two Indonesian men were arrested in the early hours of Sunday for allegedly distributing contraband cigarettes to migrant construction workers in Selangor, Malaysia.
The pair had rented a warehouse to allegedly store their supply of 90,000 ringgit (US$21,600) worth of illegal tobacco products.
At 4 am on November 4, Shah Alam police conducted a search at Dataran Otomobil in Shah Alam Seksyen 15 and found the Indonesians allegedly with 1,750 ringgit in cash and loading cigarettes from their car to allegedly sell at a shophouse, the China Press reported.
On the premise, officers seized a total of 5,310 boxes, or the equivalent of 89,680 cigarettes, of various brands with an estimated value of 89,000 ringgit.
A preliminary investigation found that the suspects, two jobless men aged 22 and 23, had been selling smuggled cigarettes to migrant construction workers for the past four months.
They distributed the illegal tobacco products to agents before it was sold to retail stores around Sri Muda. The cigarettes were believed to be smuggled from Indonesian and police were continuing their investigation to confirm the source.