Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian marine police seized 110,000 packets of cigarettes believed to be illegally smuggled from Indonesia following a 15-minute high-speed sea chase, official agencies reported Sunday. The contraband, worth some 1 million ringgit (294,000 dollars), was seized following a failed attempt by the smugglers to escape in their cargo boat after being ordered to stop for inspection by patrolling marine personnel Friday night.
The ship's captain and six crewmen, believed to be Indonesians and aged between 21 and 48, have also been detained, said southern region marine Police Chief Paul Khiu.
"We believe the cigarettes were for the local market and were being smuggled in from Tanjung Pinang in Indonesia," Khiu was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
"We also seized the ship worth about 273,450 ringgit (80,000 dollars)" he said, adding that the suspects are currently detained at a local police station in the state of Johor.
