Remove illegal parabola dishes or face action: Customs
KOTA KINABALU:
The State Customs Department yesterday issued a warning to house owners here to remove illegal parabola dishes or risk facing action. Its Director, Md Datuk Yusop Mansur, said the Department is giving those who have such equipment installed at their homes to dismantle them before a special house-to-house operation is carried out in’ two weeks’ time. Speaking at a press conference at the State Customs Headquarters here yesterday, he said the Department had gathered intelligence from several residential areas in and around the State Capital and identified around 100 houses with parabola dishes, most of them suspected to be illegal. He said numerous complaints had been received from the public recently that many houses around the City are illegally using parabola dishes to receive television programmes from around the world. Parabola equipment is a prohibited item under the Customs Prohibition and Imports Order 1988. Importation of and usage of such equipment are strictly controlled where permit and licence from the relevant authorities are required before one can import and install them at their premises. “We have identified and taken the picture of some 100 houses that have parabola system and will launch an operation to check whether they are licensed or not. So, I urge those who have installed them illegally to remove them within two weeks,” he said. Yusop did not rule out that some of the users of the illegal equipment are public figures and VIPs. He said the Department is trying to resolve the problem without humiliating them. He reminded that under Section 135 of the Customs Act 1967, those found possessing prohibited goods such as parabola dishes are liable to be fined between 10 and 20 times of the amount of the Customs duty or jailed for a term not exceeding three years, or both.
