MUAR, MALAYSIA - More than 10 tonnes of smuggled cigarettes with unpaid duty of RM12.5mil ($5.18mil) were destroyed at the Customs Department complex near Bakri here.

The contraband cigarettes, including kretek, seized by the department's preventive units over the past two years were shredded in a special machine yesterday.

Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers chief executive officer Shaik Abbas Ibrahim said the goods were the third batch destroyed this year.

"We destroyed more than RM20mil worth of contraband cigarettes in Johor Baru in October and another batch in Lumut, Perak early this month.

"We carry out the destruction in the open as we want the public to know what happened to all cigarettes seized by the department," he told reporters at the Muar Customs complex yesterday.

Shaik Abbas said studies carried out by the confederation in June and July showed about 24.5% of cigarettes sold in the country had no stamp duty labels or security features.

He said most of the cigarettes seized in Johor were smuggled in from neighbouring countries, adding that the confederation, in a joint move with the department, had organised programmes to educate retailers on the heavy losses incurred by the Government.