The shipment passed through Kuala Lumpur declared as ordinary computer components. Inside the 72 server units, Malaysian customs officers found something the paperwork did not mention: advanced artificial-intelligence chips worth 52.9 million ringgit, or about $13m, sitting in the airport’s free trade zone and waiting to move on.
Malaysia’s customs department announced the seizure on Friday, describing it as a thwarted smuggling attempt through the country’s main airport.
The inspection took place on 5 June at KLIA, where officers opened a consignment that had been flown in and logged for the free trade zone, the kind of bonded area designed to let goods pass through a country without formally entering it.
According to the department, the servers were destined for re-export to another Asian country.
That detail is the heart of the case. Preliminary investigations, the department said, indicated the syndicate behind the shipment was using Malaysia purely as a waypoint, choosing it to avoid the restrictions that would have applied on a direct route to the final destination.The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
