PUTRAJAYA, March 20 — Ten civil servants, including a woman, have been remanded for four days, starting today, on suspicion of accepting over RM3 million in bribes from a tobacco, cigarette and alcohol smuggling syndicate.

Magistrate Irza Zulaikha Rohanuddin, at the Putrajaya Magistrate’s Court, granted the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)’s application for remand, ordering all individuals to remain in custody until Saturday.

According to a source, these individuals, aged between 30 and 50, were apprehended along with five others during Op Samba 2.0 at the MACC Headquarters while giving their statement yesterday afternoon.

"The arrests were conducted by MACC Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Division in collaboration with the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) since last Monday.

"All suspects are believed to have received over RM2 million in bribes from the syndicate to facilitate the smuggling of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol and various other items between 2017 and 2023,” the source added.

Following the arrests, MACC AML also confiscated mobile phones and froze the bank accounts of all suspects.

Previously, the AML Division apprehended 11 individuals, including five civil servants and a person with the Datuk title, who was also remanded to assist in the investigation.

It is understood that the modus operandi of the syndicate includes using forwarding agents as intermediaries for payments to enforcement officers to ‘smoothen’ the process of smuggling alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, and other items without going through the declaration and inspection procedures.

The syndicate is also believed to be using mule accounts to conduct bribe payments to colluding civil servants.

Additionally, the syndicate is implicated in money laundering activities by laundering money using ghost company business accounts, through money changers and licenced money lending companies.

MACC AML director, Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin when contacted confirmed the remand of the 10 individuals and that the case was investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.

Meanwhile, five other individuals who were also detained were released on MACC bail. — Bernama