Firecrackers For My Sick Son, Says Smuggler

[george]

Firecrackers for my sick son, says smuggler

PADANG BESAR: Among the excuses given by small-time smugglers found in possession of contraband firecrackers in this border town, few can beat that of a woman who said they were meant for her sick son.

The woman, in her 50s, from Kampung Datuk Kayaman near here, said her son would be rid of his fever on getting the firecrackers hidden in her handbag. Customs officials did not buy her story and seized the contraband.

She was one of hundreds of locals and foreigners who were searched at the Immigration and Customs Complex in this town on the Thai-Malaysian border in a joint operation involving some 40 personnel from the Veterinary, Agriculture and Customs Departments and police.

Meanwhile, Perlis Health Director Dr Azmi Hashim said his personnel had confiscated hundreds of bottles of mineral water from a lorry and a large quantity of food packed in insecticide cans.

-- Bernama 2004-10-25